Lost Civilization, which Race to Use

[Draco_Lord]

So I'm doing a homebrew campaign and part of the plot involves digging through old ruins of an ancient civilization that was magically advanced, about to create leagues of Constructs to serve under them. I was thinking some race that is very magically inclined, my first thought being Elves, but I'm not fully sure they would work best.
One of the major parts involves a giant warmachine construct that will be unearthed, and the PCs either getting it, or having to fight it, depending on what exactly they do.

But anyways, what I'd like advice on is what race to use for this civilization. I'm fine with any of them. The world is custom made, and the land that they owned has since split into two sides, a forest filled elf land, and a desert wasteland filled with Orcs. There are also humans to the north, but they will probably not be as involved. The land was all once rather fertile and lush, but an earth shattering event changed that. Personally I imagine the desert, and lose of food, combined with them growing too much as a nation, and pulling a Rome, caused them to collapse, and lost a lot of their old knowledge.

[bjoern]

I'm thinking gnomes. Gnomes are tinkerers and I've always visualised them building stuff with gears and such.

[Karl Aegis]

I would go with either Sahuagin or Vashar.

[Kol Korran]

There's an idea from dragonlance I plans on stealing for a campaign of mine- thecold civilization we're beautiful, wise, advanced, powerful race, but the catastrophe turned them into... ogres... a few remain with hints of past power (ogre Magi) but for the most part, the dumb, brute, ferocious ogre beasts are all that remains from the past glory.
Quite a catastrophe it just have been!

[Maglubiyet]

There's an idea from dragonlance I plans on stealing for a campaign of mine- thecold civilization we're beautiful, wise, advanced, powerful race, but the catastrophe turned them into... ogres... a few remain with hints of past power (ogre Magi) but for the most part, the dumb, brute, ferocious ogre beasts are all that remains from the past glory.
Quite a catastrophe it just have been!

I like the Fallen Masters trope. Orcs, hobgoblins, trolls, penguins -- some race that is brutish and savage today, but once was the pinnacle of civilization.

[BilltheCynic]

How about Kobolds? Kobolds are generally known as a fodder race, but they are also expert trapmakers and they have the blood of the dragon flowing through them. You could say that in the distant past dragons ruled the land until X happened (a civil war perhaps) and the dragons lost their dominance and, though a few still remain and they are still quite powerful. This terrible event also rained great destruction on the land, turning half of the continent into an arid desert. In the Age of the Dragons kobolds were the dominant humanoid because of their service to the dragons, and they created great fortresses and mighty machines until the terrible X (if civil war, maybe they had to chose sides.) Now the kobolds have fallen to a tribal state and have lost most of their craft, though their workmanship still lives on, pale and diluted, with their trap making.

For bonus points, you could have the giant war machine that the players face be a construct dragon.

[goto124]

Human works for everything :smalltongue:

[Honjuden]

Giants worked for Eberron.

[(Un)Inspired]

Use anthropomorphic weasels and have them be like Otsels from Jak and Dxter

[Coidzor]

Vaati or the Wind Dukes or Aaqa would be one possibility, or something similar to them in premise. An elder race from back when the elements were much stronger and more important in the cosmos as a whole that had colonized the material plane and created a great city filled with wonders, but either pulled back to their entrenched positions on the elemental planes or died out or had a terrible war and are now extinct or greatly diminished and elsewhere or what have you.

Or, heck, maybe it's a city left from ancient times by the forebears of the Ethergaunts, before they'd left the material plane behind and retreated into the ethereal plane to build up and... change themselves in seclusion from the eyes of the Powers.

A no longer submerged city from the height of the Kuo-Toan empire before they degenerated might also be interesting, maybe there are connections there both to the ocean and Underdark(or its analog), eventually anyway.

Perhaps it is a lost city of the Aboleth, with or without the descendants of Skum that might have been left behind when the Aboleth left.

[urokia]

Illumians are basically humans that are tied with magic. Specifically glyphs and runes which can be perfect for ancient ruins! They have a unique style of dress and stuff too compared to other humans. They're in Races of Destiny.

[deuxhero]

Dwarfs are the natural choice for something that still works after being buried for a thousand+ years. You could also do Duergar if you want something more exotic

[Brendanicus]

+1 on the ideas for Kobolds, Duergar, and Kuo-Toa. Each for different reasons, of course.

Kobolds as construct-makers seems like a very natural fit. Various sub-species, like the Jungle Kobolds, are associated with living in ruins that are distinctly not the products of their own civilization. Also, robo-dragons.

Duergar need more love in general. A lost civilization built by them would likely be heavily industrial. It would make for some hardcore dungeon design and construct flavor. EDIT: Since Duergar have Enlarge Person and Invisibility as SLA's such spells could easily be tacked onto their constructs. Really, I would imagine Duergar constructs being characterized as hard-hitting brutes supporting themselves with buff spells to match the situation.

Kuo-Toa would be really exotic. Their dungeons would be in-and out of water, and I would imagine their constructs would look very bizarre. Plus, water in a dungeon setting could be the key for tons of great encounter modifiers.

[tonberrian]

I like the idea of Warforged. It opens up the question of who built the builders, leaving room for an even more ancient and magically powerful race for further ruins. At least, if your players are into that sort of thing.

[unseenmage]

You could always roll a race off the Creatures by ECL randomized list linked in my sig.

My preference would be to use Mongrelfolk or some other half-race as the remnants of the ancient civilization.

[Doctor Awkward]

Giants from Xen'drik in Eberron were highly magically inclined, and once had an enormous wide-spanning empire brought low by an ancient magical cataclysm. The primordial giant template from SoX might be helpful.

[Blackhawk748]

You could use Sharakim to throw everyone for a loop.

[Sian]

Militant Halflings, calling the giant construct Atamathon, built to defend against a Orc horde

[atemu1234]

You could use Sharakim to throw everyone for a loop.

Or Awakened Mice. Points if you get the reference.

[Blackhawk748]

Or Awakened Mice. Points if you get the reference.

Are....are you referencing Redwall?

[Karl Aegis]

Are....are you referencing Redwall?

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

[Blackhawk748]

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

Ah, been a long time since ive seen that

[Coidzor]

Kuo-Toa would be really exotic. Their dungeons would be in-and out of water, and I would imagine their constructs would look very bizarre. Plus, water in a dungeon setting could be the key for tons of great encounter modifiers.

Kuo-Toans or Aboleths or similar would also be a perfect opportunity to use that lovecraftian version of the Effigy template, the Elder Eidolon from Lords of Madness.

[Darrin]

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

I was thinking more like Vroomfondel and Majikthise.

I like the Fallen Savage trope. Orcs or trolls. However, I have to admit anthropomorphic penguin is tempting. I also have the 3.5 stats for Flumphs somewhere.

[Frostthehero]

I would have to say dwarves.

The greatest craftsmen are dwarves, and the cities that they leave behind last for a long time. I actually did this in one of my campaigns, and so far it has worked very well. Duergar would work fine as well, or even hill dwarves.

[WeaselGuy]

If I remember my Forgotten Realms Sword Coast lore correctly, the Illefarn were a race of Elves that settled vast stretches of underground caverns. They were reportedly masters of magical portals and of constructs/golems.

[IZ42]

Dwarves for lost civilizations and such is rather cliché. However, Kobolds as a once mighty race sounds great. And robo-dragon war machine sounds friggin epic. You could also do goblins, because they don't recieve enough love ever.

[Maglubiyet]

Or Awakened Mice. Points if you get the reference.

The answer is 42.

[Tvtyrant]

My gut says Beholder city under a hive mother. Controlled Beholders have capacities matching or exceeding modern humans, while without directive they go into insane xenophobic fits. A beholder city would be filled with statues (petrified creatures or people), vertical shafts, magic items, and various oozes, fungi and molds. Nothing would quite make sense to a humanoid, like towers without doors and ceilings covered in mirrors.

[Threadnaught]

I had a world with several.

There was an existing fallen empire from the web.
The Elven Empire.
The Human Empire.
The Dragon Empire.
The Sahuagin Empire.
The Empire of Death.
The Dwarven Empire.
The Dwarven Nomads.


All completely fallen, but Elves, Humans, Dragons, Sahuagin, Undead and Dwarves existed and weren't extinct. Despite a whole series of genocidal wars being fought throughout history.


It's easily excused by having the losers retreat to where the winners can't get to them and have attitudes change over time.