How would you convert the Tau to fantasy?

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

So, I was browsing a thread on /tg/, and one post idly mentioned that part of the appeal for tau players in Warhammer 40,000 is that they're a "clearly" sci-fi race, with no visible connections to fantasy - a reference to 40K's origins as literally "Warhammer Fantasy In Space!" and the clear star-fantasy nature of the game even in the present. Now, I'm a big fan of the idea of experimenting with unusual racial aspects of my homebrew settings, so, inevitably, my mind turned to the thread's title question:

If one wanted to reverse-engineer the Tau from being a sci-fi race into a fantasy race, how would you go about doing it? Do you think it's possible?


Who're the Tau?
For those unfamiliar with Warhammer 40k, a brief explanation: the Tau are an alien race in the 40K setting introduced in the early 2010s in an attempt to shake up the setting's dynamic. Their primary purpose is to serve as a contrast to the Imperium of Man; a young, vibrant, optimistic culture that is on the rise, which accepts other races into its fold and which is technologically progressive and innovative, in comparison to the dying, moribund Imperium, where violent xenophobia is a virtue, superstition has replaced science, and which is slowly crumbling under the weight of age and decay.

Also, as part of their "technologically progressive" characterization, the tau are very animesque in characterization/aesthetics. They use powerful energy weapons, oufit their elite troopers with piloted exoarmor, have ready access to antigravity technology, and rely heavily on robotic assistance to supplement their efforts in the battlefield. Their machinery is give a smooth, fluid design aesthetic, all curves and flow in contrast to the blocky, angular design of imperial tech.

The tau themselves are bipedal aliens who divide themselves into five distinct castes; Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Ethereal. These have distinct social roles (earth tau are laborers, fire tau are warriors, air tau are messengers/couriers/pilots, water tau are merchants and diplomats, ethereal tau are leaders), but their origins stem from distinct genetic subspecies and cultures of tau that arose in the early days of their race. They're noted for not being particularly adept at melee combat, with the biological justifications that they have eyeballs structured in a way that makes them have difficulties with depth perception and focusing reflexes - tau combat doctrine emphasizes mobility and ranged firepower for this reason. In the 40K universe, tau are noted for an unusually weak connection to the Warp, the otherrealm from which all other races derive psionic powers.

The tau culture is a strange blend of communalism - literally called "The Greater Good" and casteism. All beings should strive to work together for the greater good of the tau as a whole, with the castes providing both a recognition of the original four tau specio-cultures and a way to focus their natural bio-psychological talents.


Personal Musings:
As a kneejerk opinion on the matter, I think "Fantasy Tau" would work to fill what TVTropes calls the "High Men" archetype of fantasy races; an advanced culture with access to technologies (or equivalents thereof) beyond those possessed by other races around them.

Ironically, in the typical high/heroic fantasy setting of D&D, I would actually see the fantasy analogues of Tau having a natural affinity for magic - however, it's in the form of quantity over quality. That is, all tau have some low-level knack for magic, but unlike most races, they very rarely develop this magic potential to a high level, and mostly express it through focusing it into physical channels.

Essentially... If the eladrin kingdom is full of wizards and sorcerers, then the tau kingdom is full of artificers and eldritch knights.

Magitek, of the industrialized magic form if nothing else, would be a natural "hat" to give the Fantasy Tau. Lesser golems help out with manual labor, they have internal lighting, and would certainly have access to gun-like ranged weapons. Arguably, they might even have passed beyond "mere" flintlock technology and produce something closer to future-tech (lasers, etc), with guns that either use exotic alchemical ammunition or are essentially mass-produced, readily-wielded wand derivatives.

And, of course, the whole culture has a distinct Asiatic feel, mirroring the Asiatic aspects and motifs of the Tau in their original game.


Still, what do people think? How would you do it?

[Sicarius Victis]

Personally, I'd see the Tau as being related to elves. They do mostly fill the classic "High Elf" role as a culture, being a more "advanced" race that prides itself on skill and intelligence rather than brute force. Personally, I mostly see Tau - Fire Caste, at the very least - as being Arcane Archers and ranged Battlemasters, while Tau in general would also tend towards Artificer. Their typical weaponry would equate to a bit of magic in a fantasy setting, but their lack of Psykers in 40k would mean they don't have the same kind of magic potential that other races do. In fact, I'd say that Artificer-types are the only casters they'd have beyond 1/3rd-casting types. Society-wise, they'd be a militant, expansionist empire, but they wouldn't be unwilling to consider diplomacy as an option instead of violence.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Personally, I'd see the Tau as being related to elves. They do mostly fill the classic "High Elf" role as a culture, being a more "advanced" race that prides itself on skill and intelligence rather than brute force.
Really, I'd argue that in a fantasy setting, tau could replace Elves, Dwarves or Gnomes depending on your desires .

As you said, they can easily fill the High Elf archetype of the "cultured race", an "advanced" people that prides itself on skill, intelligence and magic/technology over brute force. If they share the same world, they can also serve as foils, with the youthful vigor and expansion of the tau serving a contrast to the typically moribund or dying motif of the elves.

Dwarves are often the "tech race" in D&D settings, with access to technology that other races don't have. Tau can easily fill that role, or contrast it by being progressive and innovative in the face to the typically stagnant and hyper-conservative dwarves.

As for gnomes... well, the closest thing D&D gnomes have to a traditional "hat" is as being The Practical Magical and/or Technical Race - the ones who actually try to study magic/technology and make new things, rather than sitting on millenia-old laurels. That's a niche the tau readily fill.


Personally, I mostly see Tau - Fire Caste, at the very least - as being Arcane Archers and ranged Battlemasters, while Tau in general would also tend towards Artificer. Their typical weaponry would equate to a bit of magic in a fantasy setting, but their lack of Psykers in 40k would mean they don't have the same kind of magic potential that other races do. In fact, I'd say that Artificer-types are the only casters they'd have beyond 1/3rd-casting types.
Eh... I'd definitely agree that Artificers and 1/3rd casters are their overwhelming primary source of caster-type classes, but since D&D magic doesn't directly correlate to Warpcraft, I don't think quite the same level of disconnection needs to be preserved. I'd definitely agree on making true casters a very rare thing in their culture.


Society-wise, they'd be a militant, expansionist empire, but they wouldn't be unwilling to consider diplomacy as an option instead of violence.
Well, really, you can adjust the expansionism and the arrogance of tau culture to fit your desired place for them on the Black/Gray/White scale, but yeah, that is the most straight up cultural conversion.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Hmm... I can't stop thinking about what tau would actually look-like, crunch-wise, in 5e. I hope folks won't be too offended if I exorcise my demons here. For something more helpful, a greater explanation of who the Tau are can be found here: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Tau

5e Tau, 1st Draft
Tau Racial Core:
Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
For The Greater Good: When you are within 5 feet of an ally who is not incapacitated, you have Advantage on saving throws against the Charmed and Frightened conditions.
Born to Serve: You belong to one of the five tau castes; Air, Earth, Fire, Water or Ethereal. You gain additional racial traits depending on your caste.


Air Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity
Frail: You cannot use weapons with the Heavy weapon trait. Additionally, you treat your size category as being one step lower than it actually is to determine your Carrying, Dragging, Lifting, Pulling and Pushing Capacities.
Fleet-Footed: Your movement speed is 35 feet, instead of the normal 30 feet.
Sure-Footed: When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement on that turn.
Soaring Leap: You always count as having a running start when making a jump, and can make a high jump of 5 + your Strength modifier feet, instead of the normal 3 + Str mod feet.
Glide: If you are not encumbered, wearing medium or heavy armor, incapacitated or restrained, then you take no damage from falling.


Earth Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution
Powerful Build: You are treated as one size category larger for determining your Carrying, Dragging, Lifting, Pulling and Pushing Capacities.
Tinker: As per the Rock Gnome racial trait, Player's Handbook page 37.
Sturdy: You have Advantage on saving throws against Exhaustion.
Tough: You gain +1 maximum hit point at character creation. You gain a further +1 maximum hit point at each level you gain thereafter.


Ethereal Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom, +1 Charisma
Herald of Peace: You can cast the Friendship cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Charm Person as a 1st level spell. At 5th level, you can cast Enthrall as a 2nd level spell. When you cast Charm Person or Enthrall with this trait, you cannot cast it again until you complete a long rest. Spells cast with this trait do not require somatic or material components. You can use the higher of your Wisdom or your Charisma as your spellcasting ability score for spells cast with this trait.
Sagely Words: You can use the higher of your Wisdom modifier or your Charisma modifier when making Persuasion checks.


Fire Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity
Martial Training: You have Proficiency with one ranged weapon of your choice.
Target Drilled: When using a ranged weapon, you do not suffer Disadvantage for firing at targets beyond the normal range. This does not increase the weapon's maximum range.


Water Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Charisma
Natural Diplomat: You can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any Charisma check you make that doesn't already include your proficiency bonus.
Gift of Tongues: If you encounter a being who speaks a language you are not proficient in, you can intuit enough of an understanding of the language to communicate basic concepts by succeeding on a DC 10 Wisdom check. This does not allow you to read or write in the creature's language, and you suffer Disadvantage to Charisma checks against that creature, as you have only a rudimentary grasp on their language.


Optional Racial Flaw:
Melee Ineptitude: You suffer Disadvantage on attack rolls made with melee weapons until you reach either 3rd level (Fire Caste or Ethereal Caste) or 5th level (Air, Earth or Water Caste).

[Grod_The_Giant]

If we take the "young, vibrant, advanced" thing as the key part of their identity, I think the problem with fitting them into a generic D&D-style fantasy setting would be overlap with men, not elves. The most common paradigms I've seen, probably stemming from Tolkein, have elves (and dwarves, to a lesser extent) as the old stagnant races, with humans as the young, vibrant rising stars.

In a fantasy setting, I think I'd make them Renaissance-y, in contrast with a more medieval aesthetic for humans and other races. Big, bustling city-states, filled with traders and artists and travelers from every corner of the world. Borrow ideas heavily from the Italian city-states-- the "Renaissance man" archetype, the merchant-princes, the famous artists, that sort of thing. The elemental subraces work beautifully here, of course; if anything, that could probably be played up a bit. Maybe have their mages be particularly good at summoning and bargaining with elementals?

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

In a fantasy setting, I think I'd make them Renaissance-y, in contrast with a more medieval aesthetic for humans and other races. Big, bustling city-states, filled with traders and artists and travelers from every corner of the world. Borrow ideas heavily from the Italian city-states-- the "Renaissance man" archetype, the merchant-princes, the famous artists, that sort of thing. The elemental subraces work beautifully here, of course; if anything, that could probably be played up a bit. Maybe have their mages be particularly good at summoning and bargaining with elementals?

This is a very neat idea, and one I like; one of the things that makes the Tau so unique in their original setting's fluff is that, by the admittedly rock-bottom low standards of that setting, they're a very cosmopolitan race. They believe in diplomacy, trade, and forging strong ties with other races, to the point that they are allied with man y different peoples. So, this kind of trade-focused cosmopolitan aesthetic is a neat way to translate the tau without being too restrained by their grimdark aspects.

[greenstone]

… divide themselves into five distinct castes … distinct social roles …
… culture is a strange blend of communalism … casteism.

So, Qunari (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Qunari).

[polymphus]

So, I've been playing Tau since their release in 40k 3rd E, and there's a lot of background that has kinda been shaved away since then; some of it might be very useful to you.

Particularly, that the Tau were engineered. Somebody (Probably the Eldar, maybe the Necrons; mostly likely situation is that it was an Eldar plan with Necron interference) took a race of blueskinned cavemen and uplifted them to be a force for their own ends.

So already, there's your spin -- some Elven biologist is travelling the spheres and he stumbles across a primitive race. He works his entire life to uplift them BUT somebody else with genetic-manipulation magi-tech finds out and starts putting their own modifiers into the mix.

In the DnD setting, the most likely culprit strikes me as Illithids: they created the Gith via a similar process and while the knowledge is mostly lost, there's probably a few mad mindflayer scientists still spread across the spheres who could do it.

So, your incredible primitive tribal race turns into a technological superpower within the space of 500-600 years, but they're a little uh ... unstable. They're intelligent, dynamic, hardworking and maybe just a little too intense.

Like, it's worrying that they work away. They're always working on something and they seem nice but there's an undercurrent that whatever they're working on is gonna come to fruition one day and it is not gonna be good for everybody who ain't them.

[Rowan Wolf]

If you like the caste base of the race you could borrow the elorri (elf equivalent) from the Arcanis setting. Just some ribbons may need adjustments to get that young race feel

[Unoriginal]

If you want to adapt Tau, you need to give them -2 in STR or Con.

Tau are very fragile physically, on average, with only the Ethereal being strong outside of the power armor.

[xroads]

If you want to adapt Tau, you need to give them -2 in STR or Con.

Tau are very fragile physically, on average, with only the Ethereal being strong outside of the power armor.

I'd avoid giving them any penalties.

The core races in the 5e PHB are very careful to avoid penalizing any race. For example, half-orcs do not have the minus to intelligence that they often had in previous editions.

I'd probably give the Tau a +2 intelligence for core, and +1 based on caste. Perhaps...

Air: +1 Dex (for dodging enemies while carrying messages across deadly territory)
Earth: +1 Con (laboring all day keeps them healthy)
Fire: +1 Str (the better to tear into their enemies)
Water: +1 Cha (diplomats)
Ethereal: +1 Wis (the wisdom to lead)



Granted it's not a perfect list. But I think it works best with the standard 5e mechanics.

I'd also give them some sort of core bonus to magic saving throws or to charm effects, to represent their natural resistance to Chaos.

As for the culture, the Imperials often describe them as soulless because of their lack of access to the Warp. So perhaps they don't have any gods or religion? Or maybe, their gods are so foreign conceptually, that humans tend to give them flak.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

In fantasy you could choose to emphasize the dogmatic nature of their caste system a bit more. They cultivate a strong sense of knowing your place, of having been born for a nickel meaning you'll never be a dime. We all have our place in the circle of life, in the service of our culture, the greater good asks this from us. An earth tau might be allowed to follow diplomatic training and have a job working with people, if it's peace time and people are willing to be a bit opener and more experimental about things, but they won't be allowed to marry a water tau (except maybe in very exceptional circumstances where the leaders figure this earth person has worthwhile attributes to add to the water gene pool, which is not a word in fantasy, but people generally get the idea of breeding). In a science fiction or even an early modern era universe there is some extra wiggle room, like encouraging mixed couples to use a sperm donor or to adopt, but in a fantasy setting rulers often keep things simple.

Aside from the castes apparently the tau also have a pretty strict system of ranks, furthering the idea that as much as they sometimes seem a better alternative to the human Imperium, with people being happy and such, they have their own dogma's.

An other alternative for a caste system would be that castes are more like sexes/genders than subspecies, there is some semi-clear biological division between them and mixed parents or not most children will fall within "acceptable" distance of any one of the archetypes. But at that point we're really not talking about porting over the tau anymore.

The otherness of the tau technology/magic is also a good thing to stress, but it's mostly important if there is at least one country/group of characters/race that doesn't trust tau tech/magic. Because that in my mind is the big thing, the tech heresy stuff and the uneasy diplomatic relations keeping people from properly combining technology and using every development to its full potential. In general I think a big part of tau tech is how easy it is to use, it's more consumer grade technology than that of the humans. That's because it largely gets developed, made and maintained by their lowly earth caste, rather than creepy high horse tech priests who like to keep everything a secret. If you want to translate something to magic they'll have whatever the most intuitive magic in the setting is. Spontaneous casting from a pool of power points that allows for different numbers of spells from different levels per day maybe. Or you could just shoot for arcane magic versus the divine magic of the Imperium. This does not translate very well if none of the other races are at least in this aspect an expy of the Imperium and not restricted in their choice of magic. Or you could just go the d&d way and give either all tau or just the earth caste a +2 to any craft checks for tools or mechanical constructions other than traps, something like that.

[Unoriginal]

I'd avoid giving them any penalties.

The core races in the 5e PHB are very careful to avoid penalizing any race. For example, half-orcs do not have the minus to intelligence that they often had in previous editions.


Tau are not a core race. And some of the races in the Volo's do get penalties

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Tau are not a core race. And some of the races in the Volo's do get penalties

And those races are absolute garbage. Volo's effort at providing monstrous adventurer options was almost offensively lackluster, and I have my own thread talking about the matter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525646-Do-you-actually-like-the-Monster-Race-Stats-from-Volo-s-Guide) - before it died off, pretty much everyone agreed that they were bad.

Seriously, I can get behind racial flaws if they're flavorful, but all racial stat penalties really do is actively punish you for trying to be something other than what the creator "insists" you have to play the race as.

[coredump]

It's easy

First you find the most OP/broken splatbook from 3.5.
Then you convert it to 5.0
Then call it the Tau Codex for DnD, only usable by Tau PCs.

See..... easy....😝

[Coidzor]

Hmm. Well, they're rubbish in melee, so I suppose they'd need some kind of racial quality like Disadvantage on their melee attack rolls while enemies have Advantage on melee attack rolls directed at Tau.

[polymphus]

Here's a weird thought: all Tau have the same stat block, but have a choice of Caste backgrounds that give more proficiencies
than normal backgrounds. Instead of good stats, you're getting bonus proficencies.

Base tau stat block:

+2 Dex
+1 Int or Wis
- 1 Str

Castes

Air
Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Perception, History
Tool Proficiency: Navigator's, Vehicles (water)
Equipment: Navigator's tools, a spyglass, a belt-pouch containing 15gp
Feature: Like the Wind. Air Caste members tend not to stay long in a single place. While they don't have deep connections, they tend to know a few people in each town or city and they can attempt to use these (weak) connections for their benefit.

Earth
Proficiencies: Athletics, Animal Handling, Nature
Tool Proficiency: Herbalism, Vehicles (Land)
Equipment: a farming tool (simple weapon), a hunting trap, a herbalism kit, a set of common clothes, a belt pouch containing 10gp
Feature: Lay of the Land. Earth Caste members can recall the general layout of terrain, and can always found food and water for themselves and up to five other people so long as the land is able to provide it.

Fire
Proficencies: Athletics, Stealth, Perception
Tool Proficiency: Vehicles (land)
Equipment: one martial ranged weapon with which you are proficient, 40 units of ammunition, a gaming kit, a belt pouch containing 10gp
Feature: Bonds of Blood. Other members of the Fire Caste instinctively trust you, and are likely to help you out if things get desperate.

Water
Proficencies: Persuasion, Deception, Insight
Tool Proficiency: choose one of disguise, forgery or thieves
Equipment: 1 1-ounce bottle of ink, two quills, paper, one tool kit of your choice, one set of common clothes, one set of fine clothes, a belt-pouch containing 20gp.
Feature: Diplomatic Contacts. In large towns or cities, you are able to track down and speak to diplomats. You are familiar with the protocols in dealing with them, and interactions with them tend to go smoothly.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

So, what do people think of my Fantasy Tau PC homebrew? I really think there's ways ot refine it, but I'm just drawing a blank.

[DevilMcam]

If we look into the lore of W40K, Tau are particularly inapt at "magic", with the potential exception for the Ethereal cast.
They are also very poor melee combatants and not particularly brave when not supervised. But are however among the best engineers.

This is more flavor base And might not be well balanced

Tau base stats :
Ability score modifiers :+1 int
Alignement : Tau are very Lawful and very rarely Evil
Size : medium
Walking speed : 30 ft

Melee Aversion : When you begin your turn within reach of an hostile creature or would enter it for the first time in a turn you must succeed a DC 13 wisdom saving throw or become frightened until the end of your turn.

Magic ineptitude : You can not learn nor cast any spells

Subraces :

Tau unity : you have advantage on checks and saves against beeing frightened as long as you have an ally within 5ftof you

Air Caste:
Ability Score Increase: +2 DEX
Frail: You cannot use weapons with the Heavy weapon trait. Additionally, you treat your size category as being one step lower than it actually is to determine your Carrying, Dragging, Lifting, Pulling and Pushing Capacities.
Fleet-Footed: Your movement speed is 35 feet, instead of the normal 30 feet.
Sure-Footed: When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement on that turn.
Soaring Leap: You always count as having a running start when making a jump, and can make a high jump of 5 + your Strength modifier feet, instead of the normal 3 + Str mod feet.
Glide: If you are not encumbered, wearing medium or heavy armor, incapacitated or restrained, then you take no damage from falling.
(credits to Shadow_in_the_Mist)
Aditionnal proficiencies : You gain proficiency with the navigator tools and one vehicle of you choice.

Earth Caste :
Ability Score Increase : +1 INT, +1 CON
Mecanical assistant : you have a mechanical assistant (construct) that can carry up to 50lb of gear for you, with an AC of 13, 1HP and a flying speed of 30ft. As an action, if it is within your line of sight and can hear you, you can have it use any tools you are proficent with as if you were using them or take the Help action. It can not attack on it's own and will try to avoid combat.
If it get destroyed you can spend one hour to repaire it, this can be done during a short rest.
Aditionnal proficiencies : 3 artisant tools of your choice.

Fire Caste :
Ability score increase : +2 DEX, +1 CON
War technology : You gain proficiency with siege weapons and Light crosbows. You can ignore the loading property of ranged weapons you use.
Defensive fire : When an enemy enter withing 5 ft of you can use your reaction to attack him with a ranged weapon you are holding. You do not suffer disadvantage for having enemies within 5ft of you for this attack. Once you use this feature you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Water Caste :
Ability score increase : +2 CHA
Bonus language : 3 of you choice
Gift of tongue : you can understand and communicate basic Ideas in avery tongue you don't know, but any ability checks made doing so are at disadvantage. this does not grant you the ability to read and or write in languages you don't know.
Master of diplomacy : When you roll a charisma (Persuasion) check you can do so with advantage. You can not use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Ethereal Caste:
Ability score increase +1WIS and +1WIS or CHA
(Un)natural leader : You ignore the magic ineptitude trait of the race. Aditionnally you learn the friend cantrip and the command spell. when you reach level 5 you also learn the Suggestion spell. Your spellcasting ability for these spell is either WIS or CHA. when you cast Command or Suggestion with this feature you can't cast the same spell with this feature until you finish a ling rest.
Inspiring aura : When an ally is rolling a WIS or CHA saving throw you can grant him advantage on the check. you can not use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest.