Races

[RedFred]

Does anyone have any tips/tricks to creating original races that they might be willing to share?

I have a few new subraces and revamps of exisiting ones, but I'd really like to incorporate at least one or two original races into my system, currently I keep creating species that are more human v 2.0 than a unique race.

[Jendekit]

Find something about this new race that makes them, for want of a better word, alien. The two custom races that I have made that have had the best reception have had a fairly alien appearance (one far, far more so than the other). The Zat had six digits, a black fleshy growth instead of hair, cobalt to light blue skin, four eyes, slits for a nose, etc. The Mak Murkanth were seven and a half feet tall on average, little to no sexual dimorphism (both males and females looked identical to outsiders), monocolored eyes, and black or grey chitin growing in lines that resembled tribal tattoos.

If you don't want to go all out on physical appearance, give them a culture with Blue & Orange Morality (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlueAndOrangeMorality). A good example of that is the title aliens from the Predator franchise. Their moral code is not really compatible with ours. Their morality is essentially a larger scale version of the unofficial code that big game hunters use.

Find something, be it physical or cultural, that really hammers in the fact that this race is. Not. HUMAN!

[Yora]

Alternatively, don't worry about them being too human and have a bunch of humans with pointy ears and humans with blue skin. Most fantasy and sci-fi settings are doing very well with that approach.
I've seen very few cases where there were any races that were substentially different from humans but still had regular interactions with them. And none of them would really be useably as a PC race in an RPG.

[RBVakarian]

Does anyone have any tips/tricks to creating original races that they might be willing to share?



What system are you using to build? Pathfinder has a system (that isn't perfect and can be exploited) but i've used it to create a series of races.

[RedFred]

What system are you using to build? Pathfinder has a system (that isn't perfect and can be exploited) but i've used it to create a series of races.

D&D 5e, sorry I should have specified...

[RBVakarian]

I have to agree with Jendekit. Blue and Orange Moraltiy opens up the game for a slew of options. That way, the race becomes truly alien. Depending on the flair you go for, 3-fingered hands could work physically, maybe legs similar to that of the Salarians from Mass Effect...

[Sam113097]

It really depends on what niche you want each race to fill. For example, dwarves are usually the "mountain" race, and elves are either the "inherently magical" or "woodland" race. Find the roles you want your races to fill, and build your races so that their traits would logically (well, as logically as possible in a fantasy universe) help them in their environment. If you see a need for a seafaring race in your setting, try to think of some interesting traits that would help set the race apart from humans and help that race in its niche.

[Everyl]

As others have said, it depends on what you want in your races. In most settings, all races are basically humans with a handful of game traits bolted on and an inexplicably uniform culture. These fantasy races are, in a way, implicitly racist - they provide mechanics for how you can judge a person by their appearance. Pointy ears? Magically-talented nature lover. Stocky, short, and bearded? Also a hard-working, subterranean crafter. Humans are rarely pigeonholed in such ways in fantasy settings, often having numerous (or at least several) distinct cultures and ethnic groups that somehow manage to be different from each other without needing the label "subrace."

As you can probably tell by the tone of that paragraph, that paradigm bothers me a bit. It's simple and easy to understand, and it makes for some very fun games, but when I make races nowadays, I try to move away from it. I try to ask myself a few questions:

1. Why does this group of people need to be non-human?
2. Besides culture, what sets them apart from humans?
3. How do the biological differences between this race and humans shape the way their cultures develop?

For 1, there can be lots of answers. Perhaps the race is artificial in origin, and the history of their creation is important to the setting. Perhaps I want a conflict that is driven somewhat by the alienness of the two groups from one another - races that can't intebreed also can't mix the way real-world people do. Perhaps a key theme of the setting is conflicts between rival gods, and each god created their mortal followers independently. Regardless, I want more reason for a non-human race to exist than the desire to fill a niche like "forest-dwelling" or "seafaring." Real life demonstrates that humans are already really good at adapting to different climates.

Regarding 2, I mainly want to avoid Star Trek-style aliens. If the only practical difference between the custom race and humans is that the custom race is greedy and selfish, or has a proud warrior culture, then it's not really a custom race, it's a one-dimensional stereotype wearing fancy makeup. So I try to have some distinct biological difference to set them apart. Maybe their diet is different for biological reasons - strictly carnivorous, strictly vegetarian, requires alcohol as a vital nutrient, etc. Maybe their sexual differences and/or reproductive cycle is radically different from that of humans (one sex dies after mating, but the coupling inevitably produces many children; rather than being chromosomally determined, physical sex may be determined by age or the mother's diet during pregnancy; rather than gestating in the mother, young pass through their first phase of life as parasites in an animal of some sort, eventually killing it and emerging as the equivalent of a young child). I want some key point that makes it clear that these people are not humans.

And #3 is where I try to make sure that the race is both interesting and relatable. I try to come up with at least two or three reasonable, but distinctly different, cultures for the race. Unless the race is intended to be extremely low in population, they'll probably have a lot more cultural variation than that, based on the sheer variety of real-life humanity. Sometimes I apply this to pre-existing races as well - dwarves are, practically speaking, one of the more alien of the core D&D races, just given their ability to see in complete darkness. Unlike humans, dwarves aren't biologically forced into idleness after sunset, so their culture can develop with a very different relationship to the day/night cycle from humans.

And I want to say more, but I need to go clock in. I'll try to edit this post over my lunch break.

[Celcey]

I think one thing that can be very helpful is finding what part of the race creating process helps get your creative juices flowing. You may want to start be deciding what stat bonuses you want to give/what class you want them to be good at. For example, a class that starts with a +2 to wisdom is going to be very different than one that starts with with a +2 to strength. Maybe go for a strange combo, like +2 strength and +1 int (although mechanically speaking, this class would be a poor choice for anyone not going Eldritch Knight), and base the class off of that. What kind of people are both very strong and very smart? Maybe a proud, conquering warrior race, Lawful Neutral who think they always know best. Maybe mages who can lift boulders over their head. Who knows?

You could also think of other mechanical features they might have. For example, maybe they have certain once-per-day spell powers, or they have proficiency in a certain skill. If you were designing a race of thieves (like the Kenku), for example, you might give them proficiency in Sleight of Hand as a racial trait. Maybe they're a race of underground/Underdark explorers, so they have Darkvision and the light cantrip.

Another possibility to start is by working off their physical features. For example, I'm rather fond of plant based races- I think they're pretty cool. In one of my favorite book series by my favorite author (Landon Porter's Rune Breaker- you can find it online by googling it), he has several very interesting unique races. One of them, the hailene, are extremely interesting biologically. They have hinged ribcages, and their bones are hollow to make it easier to fly (because they also have wings).

Or, finally, you could try and start with their culture. Another Rune Breaker race that's an excellent example of an interesting culture is the Miare, who are extremely polite to the point that other races see them as subservient, which they're not. It's just part of their culture.

And finally, I'll leave you with this link to a blog post about the elf race in Rune Breaker, as told by one of the characters in the series: http://www.descendantsserial.paradoxomni.net/the-ecology-of-the-tresolmi-elf/

[Ninja_Prawn]

Hey, just sort of stumbled onto this thread and I don't know if this will be helpful at all, but I have a bit of experience in creating races.

When I started out with my fey project (links here: parts 1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/djoe8axkkk8w5se/Fey%20Creatures%20Part%201.pdf?dl=0) and 2 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/makjqikshg0rstw/Fey%20Creatures%20Part%202.pdf?dl=0)), I just wanted to play as a pixie, because that would be awesome. However, as I dug into the mechanics of letting PCs be tiny, winged, magical fey, it became apparent that they were completely different from any of the canon races. I was worried that it might be impossible to balance them, so I decided to create a new 'racial ecosystem', in which being tiny, having wings, being fey or having lots of innate magic wouldn't be unusual.

Thus I (accidentally) hit upon a theme.

The real key that unlocked the project was the Adventurous feat, which bypasses one of the drawbacks of being fey and turns once/day innate casting into once/rest. Once I'd written that, I knew that I had to make sure every fey race I created had once/day innate casting. Furthermore, with the tiny weapons table in hand and concerns about negative ability score modifiers resolved, I felt comfortable creating more tiny races.

So, I went looking for more fey races to create. I drew on the MMs and various real-world folklore until I'd built a whole clutch of races (so, ok, they're not all 'original'). There are strong themes that run throughout, but it's balanced from a game perspective, and you should be able to find at least one racial option that supports whatever character concept you come up with.

What I'm trying to say is: find a theme and build on it. Also, draw on existing sources as much as you can; it helps to ensure balance and a consistency of tone.

[Celcey]

Hey, just sort of stumbled onto this thread and I don't know if this will be helpful at all, but I have a bit of experience in creating races.

When I started out with my fey project (links here: parts 1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/djoe8axkkk8w5se/Fey%20Creatures%20Part%201.pdf?dl=0) and 2 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/makjqikshg0rstw/Fey%20Creatures%20Part%202.pdf?dl=0)), I just wanted to play as a pixie, because that would be awesome. However, as I dug into the mechanics of letting PCs be tiny, winged, magical fey, it became apparent that they were completely different from any of the canon races. I was worried that it might be impossible to balance them, so I decided to create a new 'racial ecosystem', in which being tiny, having wings, being fey or having lots of innate magic wouldn't be unusual.

You would be the one to create whole packets of stuff just because you decided to play a pixie.

One thing I will say though is I disagree with the disadvantages you gave for being Tiny. Is it realistic that a pixie's arrow will do as much as a Goliath's if they have the same strength score? No, probably not. But it's also no fun if you hit die are reduced just because you chose a race you liked. Remember, D&D is a game, and the point is to have fun. And if that throws realism out the window, so what? 5e runs on the Rule of Cool for a reason.

[Ninja_Prawn]

D&D is a game, and the point is to have fun. And if that throws realism out the window, so what? 5e runs on the Rule of Cool for a reason.

Bringing this point back to the OP: whenever you're homebrewing anything, you always have to keep an eye on balance. Especially as you try to go further away from Human 2.0 and do something more interesting. Rule of Cool is one thing, but you (usually) don't know who's going to be playing with what you write and in some groups it can cause problems if some characters are measurably 'better' than others.

So I would first of all recommend using some kind of system to give you a framework. I use the points system developed by Musicus.

Secondly, I strongly recommend getting some people on the forum to review and critique. As an example, I initially gave my Pixie race +4 Dex / +2 Cha, but several people thought that made them overpowered, so I followed their advice.

Thirdly, playtest! I'm about to start a play-by-post game to test out my homebrew, so I'll find out from that if there's anything that needs tweaking.

[atomicpenguin]

A lot of my worldbuilding inspiration comes from cultures in our world. So when I make a world and want to fill it with some races, I'll go to wikipedia and start browsing through mythical creatures from the cultures I'm playing with. Most of them are sea monsters or boogeymen, but every now and then I'll come across a semi-sentient race of beings I can use. You can also look into the gods or goddesses from your world's culture that have bodies that are less than human and adapt a race that shares that body structure.

[Solaris]

Star Wars, especially the Expanded Universe, has a lot of material you can mine for a homebrewed race. Coupled with the above advice for folklore, you can come up with some interesting things. For example, I developed a race of orc-like humanoids that lives in woodlands, is tall and hairy, and is sensitive to sound by throwing Wookiees, sasquatch, and Grendel into a blender and setting it on puree.

[LudicSavant]

An important step to making interesting races that aren't just Humans in Funny Suits is to realize just how unique humans actually are in nature, and even how unique your culture is in humanity. You need to start thinking of your own culture and species as a special case rather than as a norm and defining other things by their differences from that norm.

You have to build things up from the foundations considering the anthropological impact of physiological and psychological differences. For example, even the simple fact that a species is carnivorous would make a massive difference and make a humanlike farming civilization impossible.

These should help for inspiration:

Humans are a terrifying species: http://fulminata2.tumblr.com/post/128522215503/silentstep-therobotmonster-moniquill
Humans in Funny Suits: http://lesswrong.com/lw/so/humans_in_funny_suits/
Gender roles in other species: http://inkytomes.tumblr.com/post/129127991256/goopy-amethyst-agentotter-singingtomysoul

[jqavins]

I don't think this post is going to add much new, but I want to throw in my two cents by picking out what I consider to be key, noteworthy points, in my opinion.


First and foremost, if your only reason for creating a new race is to have a new race, don't bother. A new race will, imho, never be really interesting unless it is created to suit a purpose. Start with an ecological niche, a cultural niche, a strategic or tactical niche, or something that needs to be filled for some reason. Then work on creating a race to fill it. If you haven't got a purpose, i.e. a niche that needs filling, then all you'll ever get is humans in suits.

It doesn't have to be an epically awesome reason. Take dragon-born, for example. A reason like "playing a half-breed dragon would be cool" is enough. Still, the progression is from "[so-and-so] would be cool" first, to creating the race second.


Being really alien biologically and/or culturally is a good idea, and I won't bother repeating lots of good stuff already stated about that. That said, I maintain that #1 above is more important; without that all you get is old Doctor Who monsters: humans in really far out (and usually poorly constructed) suits.