Designing a world with 5-6 Playable races - Suggestions Needed

[napoleon_in_rag]

I am designing a new world for 5e. As a kink, I am only going to have 5-6 playable races. I would be grateful for any suggestions on which races to use. A few of "soft" rules, (feel free to break them):

-I would prefer none of the "standard" races - No elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes. I would allow a cool subrace like Duerger or Svirnefblin (sp?) but not the mainstream subraces. I am trying to make this "Un-Tolkien".

-I am not sure if I will use humans, I haven't made up my mind yet.

-No Half Races

-Any race found in a published book or UA is allowed. Races that were designed for previous editions but haven't made it into 5e are also allowed. No homebrew races.

-Each Race will have its' own homeland, civilization, distinct culture, language, patron god(s), architecture, weaponry, etc. I would appreciate any suggestions (Aarakocra with an Aztec influence)

-I would like at least one race to be a standard humanoid (Lizardmen, Kobolds, Goblins, etc).

My goal on limiting it to 5-6 is I can really design each race to make it distinct from the others. I find the normal races to be just unusual humans (Dwarves are short, stocky humans, Elves are skinny, quick humans). I want each race to feel completely alien to the others.

I will appreciate any suggestions given.

[Theodoxus]

After reading the M:tG Plane Shift articles, I really fell in love with the Kor; though to be honest, any race with the Lucky trait (as halfling, not feat) would make me love them. But they're elves who aren't elves and fill a ecological niche similar, though distinct from, Goliaths.

I think the Avens do a better job of being the bird-folk than Aarakocra do, though Aarakocra could certainly be another subrace for them...

If I were building a new world and had all the powers of the gods at my disposal to create distinct races, I would probably make them generic enough that none have a "niche" in terms of classes. With standard D&D, Gnomes make great wizards, Mountain Dwarves make great barbarians, Halflings make great rogues and Wood Elves make great monks... to avoid that, each race would get a blanket +2 to any attribute and +1 to any other attribute. Each race could be amazing wizards or bards or barbarians... Then, mix and mash 2 or 3 attributes from races in whatever books you think are fair (which is essentially all that the Plane Shift folk did).

If you really want to make it 'fairish' - which, if your races went through an 'evolutionary' phase, would make sense, then you could rank various abilities and make sure each race was built to a certain number of 'build points.' If each race was simply created whole cloth by different gods, then there's less importance on abilities being fair - though it runs into the problem that one race will probably be the 'master' race and most players will pick it. If that's ok with you...

[Khrysaes]

Goliath

Trollkin(3.5 Iron Kingdoms)

Changeling

Genasi

Tieflings. I like the concept of Them, but not the way they are presented, mine are more emotional vampires and charmers? Alu fiend maybe, I think there is a template in a dragon magazine.

And Warforged.

I also like Shifters also from Eberron.

Hellborn(3.5)

Basically, in my world, there are 6 gods. based on beings of power/elements/etc.

A Demon
A Giant
A Genie
A Dragon
A Fey
A... I dont know race wise, always just thought "Necromancer" Representing Death

And each Race had ties to one of the gods.
Most should be evident.

Changelings were Dragon,
Both Trollkin and Shifters are Fey
Warforged are created.
Humans existed.

[Balyano]

Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde by Nord Games has a race called the Okiti.
They are ratfolk with a kind of swashbuckling renaissance/age of piracy look to their garb.
Fast reproduction, short life spans, live along the coasts, are stealthy but have a taste for flashy clothing.
Egalitarian and democratic communal social structure.

+2 dex/+1 cha
Reach adulthood at 2 years old. Very few live to the age of 25.
Strong tendency toward chaotic, generally not malicious enough to be evil.
3 to 4 ft tall, 30 to 70 lbs., small size
30 ft. speed
darkvision 60 ft.

Cunning Tail: You can use your tail to manipulate objects within your space. This manipulation must be a simple action one could achieve with a limp hand, such as knocking over an object weighting less than five pounds or lifting a small object weighing one pound. You can't make attacks with your tail.

Plague Rat: You have advantage on saving throws against poisons and diseases, and you have resistance to poison damage.

Sneakthief: You gain proficiency in two skills of your choice, chosen from: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

[napoleon_in_rag]

If you really want to make it 'fairish' - which, if your races went through an 'evolutionary' phase, would make sense, then you could rank various abilities and make sure each race was built to a certain number of 'build points.' If each race was simply created whole cloth by different gods, then there's less importance on abilities being fair - though it runs into the problem that one race will probably be the 'master' race and most players will pick it. If that's ok with you...

I do want the races to be roughly balanced with no one race having a huge advantage over the others. But if one race is much more powerful, I could hamper it's population growth by a long gestation period or they only mate once every 7 years.

The Kor are an interesting race. I like the climbing/ acrobatics aspect.

[napoleon_in_rag]

Basically, in my world, there are 6 gods. based on beings of power/elements/etc.

A Demon
A Giant
A Genie
A Dragon
A Fey
A... I dont know race wise, always just thought "Necromancer" Representing Death

And each Race had ties to one of the gods.
Most should be evident.


So I was thinking along the lines of having each race having it's own patron god or gods but there would also be certain older, more powerful universal God's that all races worship. I was planning the god of "Death" to be a Universal God. Also have "Creation" "Sky" "Earth" and "Magic" universal God's. Perhaps each race has a different name and face for a Universal God but it's still the same God. (I am ripping off the "Many Faced God in GoT").

[Khrysaes]

So I was thinking along the lines of having each race having it's own patron god or gods but there would also be certain older, more powerful universal God's that all races worship. I was planning the god of "Death" to be a Universal God. Also have "Creation" "Sky" "Earth" and "Magic" universal God's. Perhaps each race has a different name and face for a Universal God but it's still the same God. (I am ripping off the "Many Faced God in GoT").

Thats almost what I did.

It was

Demon: Water, Represented by the Moon.
Dragon: Air/Sky/Lightning: Represented by Stars(Shapeshifting Weather Wizards)
Giant: Fire/Light: Represented By the Sun
Fey: Life/Earth: Represented by the Earth
Genie: Magic: Represented by a Wheel of the Elements
Death: Death/Darkness: Represented by ... death.. this one was always supposed to be most mysterious. Also was the Twin of the Fey.

Then
Goliath: Giant
Changeling: Dragons
Tiefling: Demon
Genasi: Genie, I had 5 Genasi, the main 4, and one for Khayle type genies found in tome of Magic 3.5
Shifter: Fey, the Animalistic part of life.
Trollkin: Fey, the Plant part of life.
Humans: Death
Warforged. Made by mages to be their soldiers during a massive war against mages.. People don't like mages. Eventually, one of the plot points was one of the Warforged ascending to Deity status. Although he wasnt like the lord of Blades.

[mephnick]

Don't use tieflings or aasimar, they're just as overplayed as elves.

I like Goliath, Tritons and the "normal but weird" races.

[napoleon_in_rag]

Don't use tieflings or aasimar, they're just as overplayed as elves.

I like Goliath, Tritons and the "normal but weird" races.

I am not a fan of alignment in general and I don't intend to have alignment based Gods or celestial beings. So I 'might' combine tieflings and aasimar into one race of creatures with celestial blood. But more likely than not I will not use either race.

[Dudewithknives]

I think the races should be more terrain and landscape based than what they as a race then to do as professions.

Seas and oceans: Triton.

Mountains both in and on: 3.5 Stonechild race.

Jungles and forests: Tabaxi.

In the plains: Centaurs

As traveling merchants and businessmen in the cities the Pathfinder race: numistian. They are great. They literally eat money, bleed coins, reproduce by giving their mate gold, and all money glows like a torch to them.

If you really want to add something out of the ordinary, make an island off the coast of Warforged, with a still working great forge from a past era.

[Sariel Vailo]

See what your players are into and those are the races that primarily dominate that plane

[the_david]

Well, there's a five races trope that can help you with your choice. I think it's something like this:
Stout: A warrior race like dwarves.
Cute: The cutest of all the races, usually a small race.
Fey: The most magical of the bunch.
High Men: Superior to the other races.
Mundane: Humans.

I would go for four races myself. I usually play Pathfinder, but I don't think that should matter much. I will add the ability score adjustments though, because there's a bit of design philosophy attached to them.
Human: Because that's what we are, and it's weird to not have humans.
The small race: I think you can toss out most small races and replace them with 1 small race that can fit most stereotypes for small races. I'd give them a bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence, with a penalty to Strength.
The Immortals: A race that doesn't age. They're also resistant to disease. They tend to be lawful, though the younger immortals are more chaotic, in a rebellious teenager kind of way. (Well, not really. It's just that the older Immortals are set in their ways.) Immortals have a bonus to Constitution and Wisdom, but a penalty to Charisma.
Savages: This race would replace all the savage races. Most are chaotic, though some attempt to control their chaotic nature through meditation and martial arts. They have a bonus to Strength and Charisma, and a penalty to Intelligence.

My design philosophy here is to provide 3 races that spread their bonuses over all 6 abilities, with humans being able to choose from all abilities. There's a lawful race and a chaotic race which is deliberate. It fits the setting, though the players shouldn't know this from the start. I'm missing the fey race from the five races trope, but I think I can do without.

[napoleon_in_rag]

See what your players are into and those are the races that primarily dominate that plane

Knowing my players, two of them will want to be elves. And I am sick of elves.

[Sariel Vailo]

Knowing my players, two of them will want to be elves. And I am sick of elves.

Replace elves wjth satyr or somethig fae or fairy related.

Maybe use. Orcs and bigger monsters as phb

[Nifft]

Knowing my players, two of them will want to be elves. And I am sick of elves.

Is there a theme to this world?

For example, I did a setting which was basically: Humanity and Our Hubris.

The race palette was:
- Humans
- Warforged
- Tieflings (humans who were cursed, or who made an infernal pact)
- 3.5e Dragonborn (humans who turned themselves into asexual dragon-people)
- Kobolds (failed experiments by Dragonborn to reproduce themselves)
- Elan (humans who turned themselves into aberrations)
- Necropolitans (humans who turned themselves into undead)

... and some Elan functioned as Changelings & Doppelgangers.

This setting was based on two ideas: identity, and transformation. The monster palette was slanted towards Outsiders & Aberrations, rather than mythical beasts or fey.


== === ==

Another setting with a specific racial palette might be Shoulder-Bones of Giants, about humanity conquering the ancient empires of Giants and Cambions, and now living with their remnants.

The race palette might be:
- Humans
- Goliaths
- Tieflings & Aasimar - "the Fallen"
- Goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears) - "the Risen Fey"

== === ==

Heh, or steal from Eberron, and have the ancient empires be Orc & Goblinoid, with the invaders being Humanity:

- Humans
- Orcs
- Half-Orcs
- Goblins
- Half-Goblins ("Hobgoblins")
- Orc-Goblins ("Bugbears")


There are tons of ways to cover your race-palette, but you need a vision for what you want to get out of it.

If your vision is just "No Elves", that's cool -- just list all the races you don't hate, roll dice to pick 4-6 of them, and you're done.

[Chugger]

First, try to give some consistency to your campaign or "vectors" that somehow tie it together so it feels awesome and not just patchworked. I love the birdman race as kind of Aztec guys. Are they "bad"? Do they kidnap neighbors and sacrifice them to a wicked god by the thousands? Or are they more Mayan - i.e. more peaceful and arts/astronomy/math oriented?

Okay, if in the next major valley live the Clockwork Gnomes with giant gears and such...how does that make any sense with birdman-Aztecs? See how that feels kludged, patchworky - thrown together with no real thought?

Is there a seafaring race who has discovered the birdmen (seafaring Lizardmen or w/e humanoid crusaders?) who are remotely reminiscent of the Spanish conquistadors (maybe these guys tend to be paladins?). If the birdmen live in a city of pyramids and platforms in the middle of a lake in dry mountains (and are Aztec), is there a jungle civ to the south - maybe the cat people? Are they in conflict w/ each other? Who lives offshore - merpeople?

Think of civ dynamics, histories, and such vectors as you piece this together. What stops race x and race y from killing each other? The need to band together to keep demons or giants from taking over? Or some other monster?

Look for causality and links - trade routes - historic grudges - who has enslaved whom - invent history as you invent your world (edit, and your races) - and it will have a really cool "feel" to it - it will feel like a "real" place that players want to explore and learn about. If you got Viking-like giants in mountains next to a jungle full of tribesmen-like goblins next to random thing next to random thing and it all feels just thrown together haphazardly, players won't be impressed. Have a deep history that you dole out in bits and pieces (not too much at once) so there is more to the experience than just hack and zap and slash. Or at least that's how I see it. What I'm saying is - whatever races you pick - pick them both because they appeal to you AND because you can think of an awesome way to link them to the other races in your world's history - and because they feel like they belong together to you. Don't have your world's theme be too limiting, of course, but at some point a limit will help you.

[hymer]

My goal on limiting it to 5-6 is I can really design each race to make it distinct from the others.

Be wary of shoehorning classes into specific race choices with so few options. If there is only one +dex race, one +str, etc., it will feel like there is very little choice to even a mild optimizer.

[Naanomi]

I mean... you want six races; there are six stats... from a gamist perspective you could do worse than starting with a strong race, a quick race, a smart race, etc

[mephnick]

To stick with the 5e stats with so few races I'd give each race a +1 stat and a floating +2. Otherwise it will come down to "ugh if I want to be a fighter I have to pick the one strong race." But if one race has a +1 STR but +2 to anything else, they're still thematically strong but not pigeonholed. With so few races I think this is important.

[Khrysaes]

Be wary of shoehorning classes into specific race choices with so few options. If there is only one +dex race, one +str, etc., it will feel like there is very little choice to even a mild optimizer.

The "quick & easy" way to avoid this is mentioned above. Give every character a +2 and +1 to any stat, or maybe +1 to 3 stats, and don't tie them to race. The race would just have the racial features like powerful build, or innate magic, or something.

[hymer]

The "quick & easy" way to avoid this is mentioned above. Give every character a +2 and +1 to any stat, or maybe +1 to 3 stats, and don't tie them to race. The race would just have the racial features like powerful build, or innate magic, or something.

Indeed. I expect the thought should be taken beyonf ability scores. A sneaky race, a brawny race, a magically inclined race, etc. could all likewise need this caution.

[Spiritchaser]

I'd say think of the central history and campaign arc and for the world's people's to it.

Are the yuan ti trying to regain lost glory, and enslaving the... (whoever) with mind altering poisons to do it?

Is there a great enemy, held in check by the fey?

Have the fey and elves decided that the other races are two ecologically reckless to exist and...

Whatever. I'd work out the basic story first, decide on three or four races you need as factions for the story to work second, then maybe add one or two more races to fill in gaps if, for example, you have nothing at all for charisma casters, or no +dex races... Or whatever.

[Steampunkette]

What Roles in the Narrative do you want the character races to play, is ultimately the real question.

You're right that Elves and Dwarves tend to be just "Human but different" but within the narratives which involve actually viewing the races as individuals you get a different view. Elves aren't just humans that are agile or dextrous, they're human perspective stretched out over centuries with an understanding that one's choices will have far reaching implications they'll live to see the results of.

When Elves find humans attractive and have kids, their children are caught between two worlds and find home in neither because of the vastly different mindsets. A human plants the seeds of a forest he'll never stroll through, never see the towering boughs high above him, nor find the game trails of the animals that make that forest their home. But an elf will. He'll see the change in the herd movements, and the resulting changes to ecology. Will wolves move into the forest to hunt game they sought in tall grasses a dozen generations, before? Or will they turn to the voles and other burrowing animals for sustenance? The grandchild of the man who planted the forst might see such things... study them. But the elf has watched it all unfold, first-hand.

This is why Elves, and Vulcans, tend to take a long view of things and act slowly. Because they can see time stretching before them and know that the wrong choice will see their regrets carried through time...

What narrative roles do you -want- the various races to play? Do you want a human viewpoint for those who are coming to see the world you're creating, or is it all to be alien to humanity? If it is alien to humanity, how vast is that impact on cultures and societies? Would any kingdom exist or would they be named called Regnum? An Emperor or an Imperatrix? What roles do genders (however many there may be) have on social presumptions?

What aspects of humanity do you want to explore using these alternate races? You've said you want to tie them to various concepts. Would the Death God want living followers? Would they have short lives to feed the god more death or long lives by the kindness of their death god? Would his followers be Undead by birth or by ritual? Could undead worshippers propagate, or are there an explicitly limited number in the world? Will you be seeking the concept of death and death ritual exploration through this god and the people tied to them?

What is the main overarching "Story" of the reality? Is it a world like ours, where chaos and disorder are the rule of law and there is no grand narrative? Or is it a proxy battlefield for the Gods who use their followers as soldiers and pawns in a greater plan? How interventionist -are- the gods? Do they sometimes walk among the mortals and share their lives and their beds? Does the resulting progeny bear great powers as a demigod or is there any resulting progeny, at all? Perhaps such bloodlines lend themselves to great heroes such as PC characters?

Write out the rols of the races you want in play, what their narrative expression -means-. What roles they play in stories. Then move from there. If your God of Death is saddled with Goblins, and you have to work backwards from the idea of Goblins, you'll likely find you can get painted into a corner...

And lastly: Consider keeping humans. Perhaps make them a minority race. Maybe explorers or trans-dimensional travelers trapped in this new world. They provide a common eye to view the strangeness and wonder of your world by being so very basic and simple in comparison.

[Chugger]

Also I agree limiting to 5-6 races may be too harsh.

I'm weirded out by the zillions of races - Kobold as a player character??? It just feels so hodgpodgy and thrown together to me. You could make Kobold as a pc work, of course, but as it is (with the extended additions) it feels just thrown together.

But as others said, 5 to 6 races may be too few, especially if people are used to having zillions to pick from. I agree you should make sure that most or all possible char-desires are covered by the races you pick.

[napoleon_in_rag]

I'd say think of the central history and campaign arc and for the world's people's to it.

Are the yuan ti trying to regain lost glory, and enslaving the... (whoever) with mind altering poisons to do it?

Is there a great enemy, held in check by the fey?

Have the fey and elves decided that the other races are two ecologically reckless to exist and...

Whatever. I'd work out the basic story first, decide on three or four races you need as factions for the story to work second, then maybe add one or two more races to fill in gaps if, for example, you have nothing at all for charisma casters, or no +dex races... Or whatever.

I am just looking for suggestions for what 5 - 6 races. I will then design the campaign based on the races I choose.

I tend to have a very sandbox-like style of DMing. So instead of designing an overarching narrative to cover levels 1-20 and then designing the world to fit neatly around it, I design the world first. I come up with factions (races, guilds, nations, religions, etc), decide how they roughly interact with each other. I don't like alignment so no great war between good and evil, just different groups competing over resources.

After that, I just let the player play and see where the story goes. I might have some big events planned, like a war between two factions. But the players actions will affect that was, the players also get to decide which side they fight on. I believe allowing as much player choice as possible, but with every choice having a consequence.

Roughly speaking, I see each race having their own homeland. In between the homelands are frontiers where much of the trade actually occurs.

[Naanomi]

Low number of races isn't bad... Ivalice (final fantasy tactics and a few others) is one of the favorite fictional settings and has eight or so 'PC races'

[Chugger]

I am just looking for suggestions for what 5 - 6 races. I will then design the campaign based on the races I choose.



You can of course do this. My worry is that if you don't begin (not commit to - but begin) the process of linking and relating them, you'll have a weak or patchworky world.

It's an instinct or emotional thing, and it isn't hard (for me - maybe it is for you). You may want to challenge yourself here and see if you can do it. My worry is that picking 6 races and sticking to them by gum will lead to a brittleness of flavor and will limit your world - will dampen the sense of vitality and realism. Picking 6 races that work well together from the start (I gave some placeholder examples above) could work much better. For example, the birdmen with an Aztec them - awesome! Okay I love tinker Gnomes ... except tinker Gnomes with big bronze gears and so on - does that really mesh with birdmen Aztecs? Not to me. Or if there are tinker Gnomes they'd be on another continent from the Aztec birdmen - very separated.

If this is too much for you, my apologies. Then just pick the races you like - others have made good suggestions.

I like "civilized Bugbears" who are sort of like Viking raiders.

I like insect people who can telepathically talk to each other - or communicate by hums that most other creatures can't hear - perhaps most are hive mind creatures and kind of like robots - but ones that adventure were created by the Queen (who is the mother of all of them) to go out into the world and explore and gather knowledge for her and the benefit of the hive.

What about cursed giants who are shrunken down to dwarf size? They could be +2 str and +2 con - hurl a rock for 1-8 damage - stuff like that. Good luck

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

As a big fan of the "not another Tolkien setting!" approach to D&D, I thought I'd offer my two cents.

For starters, there's a huge array of races that've been playable in D&D throughout the various editions and settings: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/List_of_D%26D_PC_Races

That said... is there a particular "theme" you want your races to fall under? You don't want the iconic array - elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf/orc - but do you want to make your races all humanoids? All beastfolk? A mix of the two?

Because D&D tends to mostly have races you can divide into the "humanoid" and "beastfolk" camps, and that's not a bad thing. The_David had a point where using the Five Fantasy Races trope as a backbone may be helpful for ensuring a good coverage of races. In fact... nah, I'll just note the species I personally find most interesting on a casual glance.

Orc - This is the classic "evil analogue" to the Dwarf in most fantasy settings, and you did say you wanted at least one "iconic humanoid". Orcs don't have to be evil, but they do generally fit a strong, tough sort of aesthetic; in Mystara, the orcs of the Krugel Nation are essentially an entire race of orcish Gauchos, whilst in Forgotten Realms, there's a region in the Hordelands where orcs are mostly known as ranchers and farmhands. Or you can just go the Blizzard style "noble savage" motif. Entirely up to you. If you take them, I recommend using Half-Orc stats ad calling them orcs, because the 5e orc profile stinks.

Gnoll - Speaking of "noble savages", check out the Playing Gnolls article from Dragon #367; it really gives gnolls an interesting depth as something other than Yeenoghu's rage-zombie minions. Downside is that you'd need to homebrew their stats.

Minotaur - 4th edition and Plane Shift: Amonkhet both give interesting descriptions of minotaurs as strong and warlike, but not necessarily evil. Dragonlance has minotaurs of a similar, but more Roman Empire themed, nature.

Dragonborn - Again, 4th edition basically had them as perfect fits for The Stout archetype. Just pilfer the old lore and you're set.

Goliath/Kor - Both have much the same motif of being tough, hardy, nomadic explorers, so either could work for The Stout.

Aranea - These would need to be homebrewed, but they're an incredibly unusual race. They're giant spiders who can assume partially or wholely humanoid form, and who are religiously dedicated to mastering magic. That's definitely not something you see in every fantasy setting.

Lupins - I mostly fell in love with these guys from Dragon #325, where they come in three flavors; the "stereotypical" Tribal Lupin, a plains-wandering hunter-gatherer, the more civilized but still fringe-dwelling Nomadic Lupin, and the Renardie Lupin, a French-flavored and highly civilized race of urbane wolf-people with a swashbuckler motif.

Kobolds - These guys are great replacements for gnomes as the "small and magically/technically adept" people.

Goblins - These guys can replace either halflings or gnomes, depending on what angle you want to pursue with them.

Really, I could go on pretty easily; I heartily recommend checking out the page I linked and seeing if there's any races that particularly leap out at you.

[gloryblaze]

I might do something like:

Aaracokra - Aztec/Mayan inspired empire that spans a series of island chains and archipelagos in a great sea

Tritons - Roman inspired coastal empire with a strong navy that borders (and extends into) the great sea. Historically at war with the Aarakocra.

Goliaths - mountain men who often act as nomadic merchants or traders, selling food, weapons and technology from the tritons to the inland civilizations and vice versa

Dragonborn - tribalistic clans scattered throughout the same mountains the goliaths inhabit, without overarching racial government or structure. They have a shamanistic culture that reveres true dragons and elemental Fire as opposed to the gods, and tribes often settle in areas near volcanoes (or inside dormant/extinct ones)

Lizardfolk - Renaissance European (musketeers, conquistadors, pirates, privateers) inspired empire to the south of the Triton empire and somewhat less coastal. Swampy terrain, capital on a river delta that gives access to the great sea.

Orc: inland empire on opposite side of mountains from great sea. Adjacent to Goliath/dragonborn mountains to the west and lizardfolk to the south. East Asian inspired culture, frequently experiences raids and skirmishes with invading dragonborn.

The geography I'm envisioning goes from west to east:

Deep sea (uncharted, filled with deadly monsters) -> Sea (aaracokra + triton) -> coast (triton + lizardfolk + Goliath) -> mountain (Goliath + dragonborn) -> plains (Orc + dragonborn + lizardfolk) -> untamed wilderness (forest/badlands etc, filled with deadly monsters)

[mephnick]

I might do something like:


Coastal/jungle archipelago with birdmen, lizardfolk and triton?

Sigh. Now I have to create another setting. Thanks jerk.

[gloryblaze]

Coastal/jungle archipelago with birdmen, lizardfolk and triton?

Sigh. Now I have to create another setting. Thanks jerk.

:biggrin:

As a sidenote I'd also probably keep the core racial abilities intact but refluff the ASIs to either floating +1 +2 (as has been mentioned), or else maybe something like:

Aarakocra: +Wis, +Dex or Str

Triton: +Str, +Int or Cha

Goliath: +Con, +Wis or Str

Dragonborn: +Con, +Cha or Dex

Lizardfolk: +Int, +Dex or Wis

Orc: + Con, +Dex or Str

[napoleon_in_rag]

You can of course do this. My worry is that if you don't begin (not commit to - but begin) the process of linking and relating them, you'll have a weak or patchworky world.

It's an instinct or emotional thing, and it isn't hard (for me - maybe it is for you). You may want to challenge yourself here and see if you can do it. My worry is that picking 6 races and sticking to them by gum will lead to a brittleness of flavor and will limit your world - will dampen the sense of vitality and realism. Picking 6 races that work well together from the start (I gave some placeholder examples above) could work much better. For example, the birdmen with an Aztec them - awesome! Okay I love tinker Gnomes ... except tinker Gnomes with big bronze gears and so on - does that really mesh with birdmen Aztecs? Not to me. Or if there are tinker Gnomes they'd be on another continent from the Aztec birdmen - very separated.

If this is too much for you, my apologies. Then just pick the races you like - others have made good suggestions.

I like "civilized Bugbears" who are sort of like Viking raiders.

I like insect people who can telepathically talk to each other - or communicate by hums that most other creatures can't hear - perhaps most are hive mind creatures and kind of like robots - but ones that adventure were created by the Queen (who is the mother of all of them) to go out into the world and explore and gather knowledge for her and the benefit of the hive.

What about cursed giants who are shrunken down to dwarf size? They could be +2 str and +2 con - hurl a rock for 1-8 damage - stuff like that. Good luck

I am actually interested in races that don't mesh with each other. I want each race to have a very distinct and separate culture.

Let's work with your example: The Aztec Aarakocra's live in terraced pyramids which have no ladders or stairs because who needs ladders when you can fly? They look down at Gnomes because the Gnomes live underground. The end goal of the Gnome's tinkering is to build flying machines so they can compete with the Aarakocra's because the flying Aarokocra's dominate trade in the area. Neither the Gnomes or the Aarakocras venture into the lands of the Thri-kreen because the Thri-Kreen communicate though hums and clicks indecipherable to other races. Miscommunication between the Thri-kreen and others have led to wars and massacres in the past. All communication between other races and the Thri-kreen are handled through pictographs at established trading posts on the frontier.

That wasn't hard for me to come up with, it took me less time to imagine it than it did to write it. Give me a list of races and a d20 and I will come up with a campaign. I am curious about other peoples ideas like "Bugbear Vikings" or "Cursed Giants".

What I like about the example is the three races are completely distinct from one another. There is no confusing them. What I want to avoid is this:

"Out of my way, dwarf!"
"Excuse me sir, I am not a dwarf. I am a human, like you. I am just short and have a thick beard"
"Well, I am not human! I am an elf, I just happen to be a little, er, pudgy..."
"But you don't have pointy ears!"
"I lost the tips to frost bite a few years ago."

[napoleon_in_rag]

I might do something like:

Aaracokra - Aztec/Mayan inspired empire that spans a series of island chains and archipelagos in a great sea

Tritons - Roman inspired coastal empire with a strong navy that borders (and extends into) the great sea. Historically at war with the Aarakocra.

Goliaths - mountain men who often act as nomadic merchants or traders, selling food, weapons and technology from the tritons to the inland civilizations and vice versa

Dragonborn - tribalistic clans scattered throughout the same mountains the goliaths inhabit, without overarching racial government or structure. They have a shamanistic culture that reveres true dragons and elemental Fire as opposed to the gods, and tribes often settle in areas near volcanoes (or inside dormant/extinct ones)

Lizardfolk - Renaissance European (musketeers, conquistadors, pirates, privateers) inspired empire to the south of the Triton empire and somewhat less coastal. Swampy terrain, capital on a river delta that gives access to the great sea.

Orc: inland empire on opposite side of mountains from great sea. Adjacent to Goliath/dragonborn mountains to the west and lizardfolk to the south. East Asian inspired culture, frequently experiences raids and skirmishes with invading dragonborn.

The geography I'm envisioning goes from west to east:

Deep sea (uncharted, filled with deadly monsters) -> Sea (aaracokra + triton) -> coast (triton + lizardfolk + Goliath) -> mountain (Goliath + dragonborn) -> plains (Orc + dragonborn + lizardfolk) -> untamed wilderness (forest/badlands etc, filled with deadly monsters)


This is what I am hoping to get - distinct races, each with a distinctive culture/society/civilization. Nice list Glory Blaze!

[Nifft]

I am actually interested in races that don't mesh with each other. I want each race to have a very distinct and separate culture.

If you want to be really radical, to violate the unquestioned Tolkien assumptions and slay the holiest of cows, then my suggestion is:

Separate race from culture.

Imagine if Venice were 1/3 gnomes, 1/3 bird-people, and 1/3 tritons. That would be a very interesting confluence of traders. They would not be like other gnomes, bird-people, or tritons.

Of course they would be ruled by a dog-person ("The Doge").


That wasn't hard for me to come up with, it took me less time to imagine it than it did to write it. Give me a list of races and a d20 and I will come up with a campaign.

Make a list of races you don't yet hate.

Roll dice, or randomly select from that list by some other method.

[NinaWu]

See what your players are into and those are the races that primarily dominate that plane

This is a good way to get buy in from your players.

[napoleon_in_rag]

If you want to be really radical, to violate the unquestioned Tolkien assumptions and slay the holiest of cows, then my suggestion is:

Separate race from culture.

Imagine if Venice were 1/3 gnomes, 1/3 bird-people, and 1/3 tritons. That would be a very interesting confluence of traders. They would not be like other gnomes, bird-people, or tritons.

Of course they would be ruled by a dog-person ("The Doge").


I was thinking having something like this in the frontiers between the different races as a trading center. Venice, after all, was one end of the great silk road connecting Europe to China.

[ko_sct]

A made a race of fish-people for a 3.5e campaign that never took off.

What made them distinct was that they had an heavy sexual dismorphism. They ended up having 3 set of racial features.

Immature males were small sized and the best suited for adventuring, most of the member of the fishpeople tribes were immature males. Mature males were medium-sized and less quick and agiles but stroger and had more endurance. And lastly females wete large sized, were the strongest of the tribes both physically and magically (having a few innate spells ).

I took a bit of inspiration from clownfish for them, they were born as immature males, the big and strong ones eventually becames mature males and only the biggest would become female. If the female died, the strongest mature male would then become the female of the tribe, who would also be their leader.

I had a few idea about them having recently started trading with surface folks and how that may totally change their social order, especially conaidering that their reproductive cycles would be tied to their societal rank.