PDA

View Full Version : New substitution races



Zenos
2007-12-14, 06:09 PM
I've been thinking about making races that actualy substitute elves, dwarves and halflings, since I frankly find they are overused, so I will write some short meat and see if it is viable to make some crunch. And if some of those races seem viable for LA, then so be it. I've got nothing against more people playing humans.

Substitute for elves:
Sardas: Sardas are catlike humanoids, most of them about 4'0 to 5'6 tall. They often have thick white or otherwise bright fur. They are actualy native outsiders, with an "immortal" lifespan, if a Sardas dies from violence it will die, but will then be reborn with the wisdom from it's earlier life. This leads to the Sardas race being extremly wise, in addition to their catlike agility.
The most prominent about their mental traits is that they are terribly arrogant, which can manifest as a tangible field around them, warding off blows, it's strenght based on the individuals strenght of personality. They live in deserts, in secluded oasises which they defend fanaticaly against evil creatures using hit-and-run tactics and their powerful composite bows in the flat areas surrounding their small paradises. Their society is formed of small clans loosely controled by the so-called Pride Lords. They have a high esteem for beauty and courage. Their god is Merket, god of Reincarnation and Patron of Arts.

Substitute for dwarves:
Scinci: This snakelike, isolationist race has a strong resemblance to kobolds in terms of paranoia and trapsmithing mastery, but whilst the Scinci are as tall as kobolds they have much more snakelike bodies, are both stronger and tougher and would almost never serve as mooks for some evil overlord. They are probably the most renowned craftsmen in the world, although they only create beautiful items when it coincides with what is the most effective shape of an item or if an item is made specifically to be beautiful.
They live for a rather long time, some Scinci have reached an age of five hundred years old.
They usualy live in tunnels hidden away in the tallest mountains they find.
Their culture is based around small clans of up to hundred Scinci, those clans being called Swarms, led in a democratic way by an individual called the First among Equals, who is seconded by a Champion, who is the best physical combatant and tactician in the Swarm. Their form of democracy is usualy a show of hands, because they are democratic about everything, do some spawn want to go play outside the caves? Show of hands! Should we trade with those hooligan giants? Show of hands!
When they fight, they mainly try to minimize casualties, and don't have anything against giving ground to the enemy.
Their culture values first and foremost skill at crafting, strategic/tactical-mindedness and social skills, of all things. Their main god is named Shaluin, god of craft and trading.

The last race, the Setirs I will wait with posting.

Lord_Asmodeus
2007-12-14, 06:51 PM
They look pretty good, some more info on them and their gods and just more about them would be nice, the only thing that really annoyed me was what seemed like bias towards Kobolds, but thats just personal and its not really biased, so yea, not much i can see wrong with them.

Xyk
2007-12-14, 10:12 PM
what are their racial traits? They sound like good ideas, all in all. Kind of like freaks in a mostly human-based world. Like all of the core races are definetly human based while these are cat and snake-based. I would play them, depending on game stats.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2007-12-14, 10:14 PM
all good, until i read "And for some reason, goblins are racial enemies"

gwuh?

Zenos
2007-12-15, 03:40 AM
all good, until i read "And for some reason, goblins are racial enemies"

gwuh?

Sorry, I just wanted them to have some kind of natural enemy, do you have any tall mountain monsters which could pose a good threat to Scinci and therefore have them fighting often against them?

Zenos
2007-12-15, 04:00 AM
Third race, substituting halflings (note that they are not built for having the race they substitute's favoured classes and stuff, since the Scinci prefer rogues and artificers to being fighters, the Sardas prefer paladins using bows and clerics to wizards, and those Setirs are going to be mainly rangers):
Setirs: This dog-like race of humanoids stands about four to five feet tall, and although there are variants of them the most common type looks like english setters
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_setter) with hand-like forepaws and of course, they're bipedal, although they often take to running on four legs. Their society is largely peaceful, being made up of extended families called "breeds" who live in burrows in low hills. They usualy don't kill anything unless they realy need to, far prefering to subdue and drive out the defenders, often making use of sorcerers using the sleep spell, after which they put the sleeping invaders in sacks and the sacks with the sleepers mysteriously appears outside the invasion leaders stronghold (I actualy used that with elves once, it was great fun saying "you wake up inside a sack soon some soldiers open the sack and lets you out"). They are both intelligent, perceptive and charismatic, but suffers from somewhat weak health (although they are more healthy than some related races) and paws that are badly built for wielding and utilizing anything heavy(INT, WIS and CHA bonuses, STR and CON penalties I think), being dogs, they also have the ability to scent that which the other races are not able to (scent ability and bonus to tracking when using scent). Whilst many of them are rangers, wizards or sorcerers, there are also some monks among them whose task is to lead diplomacy missions among other races.
The Setir god is named Jazzo, goddess of peace and fraternity/sororiety.

I am also thinking of redoing gnomes slightly for being more wizardly instead of bards, like giving them INT bonus and CHA penalty.

Zenos
2007-12-15, 07:52 AM
Sardas (One Sardas, several Sardas):
+4 to WIS, +4 to DEX, I dunno about penalties.
CHA bonus to AC.
Racial bonus to climbing and/or jumping?
Bonuses to listen, search and spot
Prefered class: Paladin or cleric?
LA: ???

Scinci (one Scinci, several Scincii):
+2 CON, +2 DEX, dunno about penalties
Racial bonus to craft checks?
Slight build
Favoured class: Rogue maybe?
LA: ???

Setirs (One Setir, several Setirs):
+ INT, +2 WIS, +2 CHA, -2 STR, -2 or -4 CON.
Scent
Racial bonuses to listen
Racial bonus to surival when tracking with Scent
Favoured class: Ranger (or monk maybe)
LA: ???

I think i need some help getting them balanced...

Khoran
2007-12-15, 09:55 AM
the Sardas prefer paladins using bows and clerics to wizards

A small rules nitpick here: Paladins can only smite with a melee attack.

Charlie Kemek
2007-12-15, 10:00 AM
naw, give gnomes +int/cha, -wis. when have you seen a wise gnome that wasn't a divine caster?

Baron Corm
2007-12-15, 06:52 PM
No offense, but I don't think that anthropomorphic animals are very much less overused or boring than elves, dwarves, and halflings. None of these are LA +0 either, which means few people will play them, unless you rebalance humans to have LA.