Racial Visions

[Belteshazzar]

I am afraid I never got used to seeing kobalds as small wingless draconic cousins so in my world I used the version of them as being like skinny mongrel dogfolk with Gnolls as interbreed-able cousins. I still used the 'normal' kobalds as a separate race related to dragons but gave them a better climb skill and chameleon more in keeping with a sneaking race. This along with some other changes in racial relations makes my world feal different and unexpected compared to most 'standard' worlds players expect. Does anyone else do similar things in their game worlds simply to mix things up or make things fit better?

[Shazzbaa]

That's kind of funny, because one of my friends is starting a game down here, and he's changed kobolds the same way.

...were I some manner of DM, the first thing I would do is re-draw all the dragons. I really despise the way most of the D&D dragons look. ^^; But that... wouldn't really change much.

[MrNexx]

Dwarven women have beards... the pretty ones, at least.

[Maxymiuk]

...were I some manner of DM, the first thing I would do is re-draw all the dragons. I really despise the way most of the D&D dragons look. ^^; But that... wouldn't really change much.

Hear hear. I want dragons not something that looks like a giant scaly butterfly.

In the campaign I'm currently running I pretty much threw out everything I didn't like about gnolls, goblins, minotaurs and in fact most other monstrous races. Goblins, whom the characters are currently dealing with, are halfway intelligent and prepared to negotiate, for example. They're still a fairly tribal society, and their chief is the strongest goblin around (who has anger management issues at that), but they're much more competent as fighters and more about survival in an unfriendly world rather than generic evil.

[Fhaolan]

Yep. Constantly. :)

Gnomes, halflings, and goblins are all combined into one single race that looks a lot like the goblins of the Harry Potter movies. The polite name for them is gnomes, but the nasty name for them is goblin. Not accurate, because real goblins in my campaign are evil fey creatures with magical abilities, just like the RL mythology has them.

What everyone thinks of as Gnolls are simply the hyena version of a group of beastman (including cat-folk, lupins, bugbears (modified into bear-folk, of course), and weasel-folk) that populate an empire far to the south. The name 'gnoll' equally applies to all the beastfolk. Other kinds of beastfolk also exists (minotaurs, satyrs, etc.) but they are not properly 'Gnolls' as that only applies to the beastfolk that were created from carnivora. They were created a long time ago by Elves as a slave race. They revolted and threw the elves out of their kingdoms, creating their own empire. They are fiercely organized and militaristic, and are slowly spreading out over the entire world.

I also have trolls being the same 'race' as ogres, but who are mutant ogres with incredible healing rates.

And every dragon is unique. There are no 'red dragons'. There is one Red Dragon, one Blue Dragon, one Bronze Dragon, etc. There is simply not enough hunting ground to support multiple races of dragons. The most famous dragon in my campaign is Andragoraxe, the Crimison Dragon. Much like a red dragon, but instead of a cone of fire she spits napalm-like fireballs.

There's more, but this hits the highlights.

[MrNexx]

Fhaolan, did you ever play Birthright?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

Dwarven women have beards... the pretty ones, at least.

All my Ogres are Christmas Ogres and wear red hats

[Thomas]

So your ogres are redcaps? Cool.

[Fhaolan]

Fhaolan, did you ever play Birthright?

Not as such. I vaguely remember reading one or two sourcebooks I downloaded off of the WotC site awhile ago, but that's about it.

I've been running this campaign world for almost 20 years, constantly changing it as I update it to each new edition of D&D. Over that time I've had some few hundred players pass through my gaming groups, I've submitted stuff to TSR (back before WotC bought them out), and most of the maps and notes I've made of the campaign have disappeared as former players wandered away with my notebooks. It wouldn't surprise me to find out bits and pieces of it ended up in Birthright. The timing would be about right.

[Kantolin]

I tend to give most savage/monstrous races more of an existant society. It's very rare that a group is evil for the sake of being evil, even if their reason for acting is something that the PCs have no qualms killing them about.

And dragons are not color-coded. I don't mind how they look, I mind their color-coding for their alignment. ^_^

Most things don't have the stats they have in the book either.

[Matthew]

Yeah, I do the 'Beast Men' thing too. Most of mine are Wizard Experiments or the result of particulalry severe curses.

Dragons are also not colour coded, they are just Dragons.

Kobolds I put back in their rightful place as the weakest of the Goblinoids: Kobolds, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs and Uruks are all just words for the same thing, but with varying size and strength.

Half Orcs generally can pass as Humans

Elves are kick ass more powerful versions of Humans and rare.

Half Elves are less powerful than Elves, but more powerful than Men

Dwarven women have no beards (sorry Nexx) and Dwarves top out at 5 ft., unlike Elves and Humans who top out at 6 ft.

Gnomes and Halflings just plain aren't around

No Drow, plenty of Dark Elves...

Nymphs (Dryads and Neriads) really are the daughters of Animistic Deities

Men still sport fetching moustaches, but horned helemts and 80s perms are a thing of the (A)D&D past... and a bunch of other stuff I can't think of off hand...

[MeklorIlavator]

Mathew, is that flavor, or mechanics? If it is Mechanically new races, I would like to see some of it.

[Roderick_BR]

Well, Kobolds aways were a "lizardy" kind of thing. They are not more conected to dragons than lizard folks and troglodites. They just like to *say* they are ;)

[Matthew]

Mathew, is that flavor, or mechanics? If it is Mechanically new races, I would like to see some of it.

Mainly flavour from my House Ruled and Home Brewed (A)D&D Campaign, where it is mechanically reflected. I am in the process of adapting bits and pieces of it over to the D20 Model (mainly for fun) in the Homebrew Forum, but haven't made much progress so far.

If I recall correctly, Kobolds weren't lizardy in (O)D&D 0.x and were still somewhat Goblinoid in (A)D&D 1.x. Kobold and Goblin are, in all probability, etymologically related terms.

[Fhaolan]

Well, Kobolds aways were a "lizardy" kind of thing. They are not more conected to dragons than lizard folks and troglodites. They just like to *say* they are ;)

Funnily enough, the old D&D game had them as 'dog-like', the AD&D game had them as 'dog-like, with scales', and from then on they've been getting progressively more and more reptilian with each edition of D&D. :)

[Wehrkind]

Matthew, what are the mechanics behind "Fetching Moustache"?
That definitely needs to be a feat, and adds like +3 leadership and Charisma checks.
Unless it is on a chick.

I kind of liked AD&D Kobolds better too. I liked the idea of a swarm of killer, scaley, bipedal terriers with swords.

[Matthew]

*Laughs*

Sounds good. It doesn't have a mechanic in our (A)D&D Game, though some claim it is a prerequisite for playing a Knight... the ladies might feel left out, though. Maybe 80s perms will have to be reintroduced to give them an edge; that or armour more revealing than protective...

[White Blade]

Dude... Dragons as butterflies is AWESOME. THink about it, put massive facial patterns on their wings, that look like dragon faces or maybe faces associated with the gods. Then, give them large buggish eyes that reflect thousands of tiny little faces of humans. Keep the scales and fire breathing obviously, can't give that up for anything.

That'd just be cool... Maybe the dragons could be related to the gods (why they have god faces on their wings), like the brothers and sisters who didn't quiet achieve divinity and were transformed into monsters by the other gods. Ooh, you could even do a titan like thing with them. Maybe have some Prometheus like ones help the mortals start up.

And you could have cults dedicated to an individual dragon's ascendance. And the gods could hate that and that could cause lots of problems. And then you could have little illegal cults that might not be evil.

Dude, Butterfly Dragons is an awesome inspiration. Awesome.

[Scorpina]

My group at home plays in Faerun, so not much changes from standard really.

Gnomes, however, have become very, very similar to Rabbits as they are presented in Richard Adams's 'Watership Down'...

[archmagedrow]

butterfly dragons exist.....dont you guys have the draconimicon?
I love the dragons in DnD, it annoys me to seef dragons that dont have forelimbs or have no legs whatso ever. The color coding system is usually easily explained. For example in the the DragonLance realm The chromatic dragons are the colour of the heads of Takhisis, while metalic dragons were the color of pure metal.

[Khantalas]

Actually, the colors of chromatic dragons in DL is explained by the metal dragons getting rusted through the evil influence of some evil god. Iron turns into red, and others are also metal oxide colors (was copper green or blue?). And bronze isn't a pure metal IIRC, it's an alloy of Cu and Sn.

Well, my orcs aren't dumb. They aren't ugly, either. Indeed, my orcs surpass human beauty and are quite smart, if a bit haughty and short-sighted.

[MrNexx]

All my Ogres are Christmas Ogres and wear red hats

I kept looking at my old avatar and thinking it needed a Santa hat.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

I kept looking at my old avatar and thinking it needed a Santa hat.

Sound thinking!!

I was afraid you would remove it come January.

[Indon]

Actually, the colors of chromatic dragons in DL is explained by the metal dragons getting rusted through the evil influence of some evil god. Iron turns into red, and others are also metal oxide colors (was copper green or blue?). And bronze isn't a pure metal IIRC, it's an alloy of Cu and Sn.

Does it explain the crystalline (neutral-aligned) dragons?

I know they've been updated to at least 3.0 at some point, though I forget the book...

[Khantalas]

Does it explain the crystalline (neutral-aligned) dragons?

I know they've been updated to at least 3.0 at some point, though I forget the book...

Nah. There are no crystal dragon mentioning in DL. The book is MM II. Though I am yet to see them revised to use XPH rules.

[Lapak]

I've made a number of changes in my campaign. The ones most immediately obvious to players entering the campaign are:

- Dragons are not color-coded. There is no 'general knowledge' that indicates any kind of personality difference based on appearance. I imagine this is not that uncommon an adjustment.

- Hobgoblins are a nation of some importance. I've always thought they should have more influence based on their culture as described.

In my campaign, they control a large territory more or less in the middle of a block of human and demihuman nations and nation-states. They are still extremely warlike, but they also have a strongly traditional culture with religion-based ties to that particular region. Trying to take any part of their territory results in full-scale war and usually the annihiliation of the attacking country, since they're well organized and technically advanced, but they don't do any unprovoked invading of their own.

Hobgoblin mercenaries are highly prized, but so are hobgoblin artists; sculptors are almost as highly respected in their culture as full-time warriors are.

[MrNexx]

Actually, reading some 1st edition stuff, I finally understand WHY hobgoblins aren't that influential in most game worlds.

They're very lawful. They're also very clannish. So, while they have strict codes of behavior that govern their behavior, and they get along amongst themselves perfectly, if you put them with other hobgoblins of different tribes, they'll get violent. 1st edition described Hobgoblin/Hobgoblin racial preferences as Hatred "Indicat[ing] hatred, possibly kept in check by fear, which will certainly break into open hostilities at the first opportunity, or else the hating humanoids will desert at the first chance if near a strong body off such hated creatures." By comparison, hobgoblins Tolerated bugbears and orcs, and were fairly neutral towards gnolls, goblins, and hill giants (though they'd push around goblins, and were pushed around by bugbears).