Descent of Shadows: Project Shadow Returns

[Realms of Chaos]

Reserved for Descent of Shadow interaction with PHB races, both how they function in a descent of shadows subcampaign and giving racial variants more suitable to the environment.

Descent of Shadow and Common Races:

In a descent of shadows campaign, all races generally adapt. How they do so, however, differs from race to race. Few races are as optomistic of the future and a few are quite a bit more paranoid. Longer-lived races tend to adapt slower to the new situation than others. As a model of how races might change in a campaign, I have written up interractions between this sub-campaign setting and each race from the PHB. Included with each one is a racial variant for these hard times. Not all members of a race need to be of these varients when you play but as time goes on, it makes sense that they become more and more common.

Humans: When put into a difficult situation, humans simply try to adapt. Due to their relatively short lifespan, they do so faster than many other races. The problem with humans is that there is no guarantee to just how they will react. Because they are less likely to persecute others, great divides can form within a community without having it collapse upon itself. Unfortunately, especially in their darkest hours, humans often try to solve their problems with rule of law, opening up the way for corrupt officials and oppressive governments.

Darktime Humans:
In times of darkness, there are small towns and hamlets far out of the way. In such a place, where disease can start at a moment’s notice and the town walls are always doubted, some humans are simply better built for their environment. Resistant to harm, Darktime humans are the last and only defense that their home truly possess.
Darktime human Racial Traits:

• Medium: as medium creatures, darktime humans have no special bonuses or penalties due ot their size.
• Darktime human base land speed is 30 feet
• Always Ready: darktime humans gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks and only needs 6 hours of sleep each night.
• Resist Hardship: at first level, a darktime human selects a single save (fortitude, reflex, or will). They gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws using that save.
• Battle Training: darktime humans gain proficiency with one martial weapon of their choice.
• Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
• Favored Class: Any

Half-Orcs: when things turn grim, suspicion often runs high, and Half-Orcs often become the focus of this suspicion. When in human society, half-orcs are often ill-treated and there may be laws passed to restrict their freedom. In addition, there is always the chance that the Half-Orcs will become a pariah if the situation should go from bad to worse.
When with orcs, half-orcs are still doubted. Orcs doubt not the Half-Orc’s loyalty, however, but their ability to fight complete their missions. These Half-Orcs are often grouped into crude companies and are often marched into the battle first. After all, if the mutts aren’t fit enough to survive in battle, there is no point in keeping them around.

Darkhide Half-Orc:
Half-Orcs always struggle to survive, even in the best of times. When the times are dark and desperate, things only get harder. Wherever they go, they are mistreated and abused. After generations of this abuse, however, some of them are bound to adapt.
Darkhide Half-Orc Racial Traits:

• +2 Con, -2 Dex, -2 Cha. Though weaker than other orcs, Darkhide half-orcs are smarter and more resilient. Their thick hides, however, make them clumsy.
• Medium: as medium creatures, Darkhide Half-Orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Darkhide Half-Orc base land speed is 30 feet
• Low-Light Vision
• Thick Skinned: Darkhide Half-Orcs gain a +2 bonus to their natural armor.
• Inured to Pain: Darkhide Half-Orcs gaina +4 bonus to AC against attacks dealing nonlethal damage.
• Survivalist: Darkhide Half-Orcs gain a +2 bonus to survival checks. Survival is always considered a class skill for them.
• Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a darkhide half-orc is considered an orc. They are, for example, just as vulnerable to special effects that affect orcs as their orc ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by orcs.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Orc. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal.
• Favored Class: Barbarian

Half-Elves: While half-orcs are usually persecuted in the societies of their parents, half-elves are usually accepted. In darker times, however, things may change. When suspicions are high, resources are somewhat scarcer, and travel is more dangerous, diplomats such as the half-elves are both vital and superfluous. On one hand, the rulers of kingdoms, to keep vital relations alive, may keep a few half-elven diplomats handy and may even pull a half-elf from the streets to make an appearance with him if it helps to smooth over ties. On the other hand, as the roads become too dangerous to send ambassadors along and market prices slowly rise, many citizens wander why someone gets a favored position just due to their race or why such individuals might be paid from the taxes of the populace (if the taxes in the kingdom/town work in such a way). In addition, if relations between elves and humans are failing, half-elves may find themselves needing to answer for their second heritage to either parent race. In the worst cases, half-elves may find themselves persecuted just as badly as half-orcs.

Halfshroud Half-Elf:
Throughout time, there have always been half-elves that others have said look more like one parent than the other. Usually, these comments are either brushed off entirely or used as complements. When tensions run high, however, all that some people can see in a half-elf are the less favorable qualities of its other parent. As a result, unless they are needed as ambassadors or diplomats, the only real choice for a half-elf is to blend in with their current environment. This is not always easy, even for the special half-elves that emerge from this need, the halfshroud half-elves, dedicated to shrouding one aspect of their heritage.
Halfshroud Half-Elf Racial Traits:

• Medium: as Medium creatures, halfshroud half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Halfshroud half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
• Burst of Talent: halfshroud half-elves gain 4 bonus skill points at 1st level.
• Elven resistance: halfshroud half-elves gain a +2 bonus on saves against sleep and enchantment effects.
• Social Awareness: halfshroud half-elves gain a +2 bonus on disguise and gather information checks.
• Sleep Adaptation: halfshroud half-elves can choose to either sleep like a human or enter trance like an elf. Halfshroud half-elves that spend get 4 hours of trance do not dream and are fatigued for two hours after waking up. A halfshroud half-elf that gains 8 hours of sleep is immune to fatigue (but not exchaustion) for two hours afterwards, allowing them to sleep in medium or heavy armor without penalty.
• Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a halfshroud half-elf is considered an elf. They are, for example, just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their elf ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (Other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
• Favored Class: Any

Gnome: Gnomes are funny beings, able to get through life through improvisation and wit alone. They are respected by their peers and live in pleasant little burrows amongst their own kind. Unfortunately, when times grow dark, the larger and more numerous creatures lurking about fail to respect the bite-sized gnomes in such a fashion. For the sake of personal defense, some gnomish communities build battlements around themselves until they look like a large military camp. Others are forced to move into nearby cities where their skills are in demand and act as virtual refugees. In such an environment, an every-gnome-for-itself philosophy is more common, leading to the existence of many more evil gnomes than normal, although truly malicious ones remain (fortunately) rare.

Rubyheart Gnomes:
In the face of darkness, a gnome’s personality is forced to change, although it may take awhile for the long-lived gnomes to fully adjust. Practical jokes are usually frowned upon in the face of despair, illusions possess only limited usefulness, and their pleasant life in the mountains has most likely been ended one way or another. Instead, some gnomes choose to keep their traditions alive through stories, stories that gnomish bards have kept around for awhile. These stories of old times swim about every tavern and inn where gnomes can be found, inspiring some gnomes in the younger generation to support each other and become brave. These new gnomes, taught the practicalities of this new, darker age but remembering the morals of the old golden age, are the rubyheart gnomes.
Rubyheart Gnome Racial Traits:

• +2 Constitution, -2 Strength: rubyheart gnomes are just as tough as normal gnomes. Their size, however, hinders their strength.
• Small: As a Small creature, a rubyheart gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Amor Clss, a +2 size bonus to attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium creature.
• Rubyheart gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-Light Vision
• Weapon Familiarity: rubyheart gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
• Great Inspiration: whenever a rubyheart gnome grants an ally or themselves a morale, competence, or dodge bonus through a spell or ability, increase that bonus by +1
• Gnomish Senses: rubyheart gnomes gain a +2 bonus on listen checks and Craft (Alchemy) checks
• Fearless: rubyheart gnomes gain a +4 bonus to saving throws made against fear effects.
• Duck and Weave: rubyheart gnomes gain a +2 dodge bonus to their AC against creatures at least two size categories larger than themselves.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Langauges: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. Unlike other gnomes, rubyheart gnomes have lost the power to speak with burrowing mammals.
• Spell-like Abilities: 1/day—Prestidigitation (1 minute duration)
• Favored Class: Bard

Dwarf: Dwarves are one of the least adaptive races in existence, just as they were meant to be. They live almost as long as the elves, possess less of the elves’ wanderlust, and are bound by strict traditions and laws of their clans. Furthermore, their home in the mountains is in most cases rather immutable. To top it all off, they rely on very little magic, allowing most changes in the flow of magic to simply get shrugged off. However, the dwarves are not ignorant. If they notice that the nearby orcs have started acting up, the caravans passing the mountains have had extra guards, or that the local priest has had some problem casting spells, they are going to be curious if not slightly troubled. More than can be said for other races, however, the changes to the dwarves are indirect, the result of changes in other races. However, in extreme situations, cataclysmic events may change the landscape, rearranging the tunnels in mountains if not caving them in or reducing the entire mountain to rubble.

Darktunnel Dwarves:
Although the dwarves are rarely affected directly by changes in the world, the advent of a Descent of Shadows sometimes changes the landscape. Among the less noticeable changes (to nondwarves) are the tunnels within mountains. Yet, for dwarves, such changes to the tunnels can be devastating. Furthermore, some mountains seem to conduct unstable shadow magic better than others, leading to some that shift their tunnels on a regular basis (if not continually). To cope with such changes, some dwarves are forced to develop an amazing senses of direction and general awareness.
Darktunnel Dwarf Racial Traits:

• +2 Constitution, -4 Charisma: Darktunnel Dwarves are still stout and tough but the dark times have left them more withdrawn than other dwarves.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, darktunnel dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Darktunnel dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, darktunnel dwarves can move at that speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carriying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
• Darkvision: Darktunnel dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet away. Darkvision is black and white only, but is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
• Failing Sight: Darktunnel dwarves trust vibrations far more than their own sight. As such, their vision has started to fail. When making spot checks, they take a –2 penalty (instead of the normal –1 penalty) for every 10 feet of distance.
• Tremorsense out to 20 feet.
• Stonecunning: This ability grants a darktunnel dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings , and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone counts as unusual stonework. A darktunnel dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a darktunnel dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A darktunnel dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
• Weapon Familiarity: Darktunnel dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
• Stability: Darktunnel dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. They gain a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground)
• Internal Map: When wandering through networks of tunnels, building internal maps comes naturally. Darktunnel dwarves always treat survival as a class skill. Furthermore, they always know which direction they’re facing and can retrace their steps without fail. Finally, darktunnel dwarves are immune to maze effects.
• Stone Knowledge: darktunnel dwarves have a +2 racial bonus on appraise and craft checks related to stone or metal. They are familiar with such items and are skilled at building them.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
• Favored Class: Fighter

Elf: The long-lived elves, much like the dwarves, take a while before they decide to react to the emergence of a Descent of Shadows campaign. This delayed reaction occurs for a very different reason, however. While dwarves can live their lives as normal without so much as acknowledging that anything has happened, elves simply know that something is only worth worrying about after it has persisted for a certain length of time. After it becomes clear that the problem is ongoing (which can take up to a century in some communities), the elves still maintain their composure better than most, simply adapting however they are forced to.

Longshadow Elves:
Whenever any race is forced to adapt, there are always a few individuals who do so with greater ease. Following this model, some elves learn to hide in the lengthening shadows of the trees. Though their senses aren’t as sharp, these elves often learn the secrets of shadow magic, becoming quite adept at the art.
Longshadow Elf Racial Traits

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution: like other elves, longshadow elves are graceful but frail.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, longhsadow elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Longhsadow Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
• Sleepless: Longshadow elves are immune to magic sleep effects.
• Superior Low-Light Vision: A Longshadow Elf can see four times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Longshadow Stealth: Longshadow Elves gain a +2 racial bonus on hide and move silently checks.
• Shadow Resistance: Longshadow Elves gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against mysteries and spells of the shadow subschool.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
• Favored Class: Shadowcaster

Halfling: By nature, halflings are wanderers. Their curiosity of the world and insatiable wanderlust simply makes them more prone to moving about. However, when dangers are more numerous in the world, it is difficult to keep moving. Although some caravans carry on, each member carrying some fortifications upon their back, many simply dig into the surrounding area and wait for the dark skies to pass. The few halflings that do leave often feel more vulnerable, inspiring them to join the first group of travelers that it encounters.

Moonstrider Halflings:
Though most halfling caravans stop when things get dire, some are determined to continue. They do so wisely, however. They follow a set path year after year, moving from one safe place to the next under the light of the moon. Members of such caravans are taught to sneak and climb far better than their cousins. Those who fail to learn are doomed to an early demise.
Moonstrider Halfing Racial Traits:

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength: Moonstrider Halflings are just as quick as their cousins but share a lack of strength due to their small frames.
• Small: As a Small creature, a moonstrider Halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Moonstrider Halfling base land speed is 30 feet.
• Moonstrider Halflings have a climb speed of 10 feet. They gain a +8 bonus on climb checks and may take 10 on climb checks even under stressful situations.
• Moonstrider Training: Moonstrider Halflings gain a +4 bonus on Jump and Move Silently checks.
• Halfling Weapon Training: Moonstrider Halflings gain a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
• Augomatic languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
• Favored Class: Rogue