An ancient race long forgotten

[The J Pizzel]

The players will soon be asked to find an artifact in a forgotten, underground city. The only entrace to the city is on the outskirts of a mountain range that has been there for ages. This mountain range has still been unexplored. The range is so grand and secluded that no one has EVER attempted to cross them. The players will have to. Of course, they'll be attacked by some misc. creatures along the way. But what I want to surprise them with is this:

Right in the middle of the mountains I want it to clear out and have a BEAUTIFUL hidden valley. This valley should be surrounded on all sides by mountains. No way in or out but by scaleing them. In this valley is a long hidden race of creatures. The land is should be about 3 square miles and consist of lush green grass, beautiful large trees and a crystal clear mountain lake. My problem is I want a long forgotten race of creatures to live in the valley and I can't choose what race. Here are the pre-req:

Must be very tribal.
Be of neutral or good. I have no desire for the PC's to them, as there will be hundreds of these creatures.
Must be very religious and battle oriented.
They will be worshiping a Silver Great Wyrm. If ya'll could include that, great.
CR - 5-13 preferrably. Like I said, they won't be fighting them, so this can be different.

Just to let you know, I was considering the Dracotaur (MM2 or MM3) but realized they were evil. So they woudn't be worshipping a Silver dragon. But that's the route I'm working toward. Books available are: all MM's, all Completes, DMG, Frostburn, Citysape. NO CAMPAIGN SPECIFIC BOOKS PLEASE, I DON'T HAVE ANY.

I would really like to find a obscure race. My players are tired of gnolls, kobolds, goblinoids and the like.

thanks,

pizzel

[Meat Shield]

You could try the Saurials (wizards)

LAs of 2 or 3, good race. And since dinosaurs are reptilian, they would not have an issue worshipping a dragon.

[Kesnit]

Just to let you know, I was considering the Dracotaur (MM2 or MM3) but realized they were evil.

Why not just declare these Draotaurs are neutral/good? Call them something else if you want to. After all, they've been seperated for this long, so they could have developed their own society.

[Oeryn]

I agree with Kesnit. If you find something you like, go for it, and adjust the rules as needed.

You could have an entire valley full of peace-loving, agrarian orcs. Or gnolls, or whatever. In my experience it's more interesting to see how a party reacts to racial stereotype turned on its head, than it is to make a whole new race.

[pestilenceawaits]

you could do a a "draconic" race from races of the dragon. it is a template you can apply to a bunch of things draconic tribal humans would be cool or draconic centaurs fit that dracotaur theme.

[headwarpage]

I agree with Kesnit and Oeryn. Fluff is infinitely mutable. Making up creatures is hard work, but taking an existing stat line and changing alignment, social structure, religion, appearance, etc. until you have what you want is easy. And fun, especially if you have the kind of players who memorize entire splatbooks.

[Lapak]

Saurials, as linked by Meat Shield, were what occured to me immediately as fitting your description.

- Dinosaur-ish flavor feels like 'ancient forgotten race'
- Good-aligned, right down to being specifically allowed to have paladins even in 2e
- Lizard appearance fits in with worshipping a dragon

Adjust the fluff around them as required to make them fit into your campaign and run with it.

[Fhaolan]

In my campaign, I have several ancient forgotten races running around. Each one from it's own era. At the end of their era, they were wiped out by god-caused cataclysms.

Going from youngest to oldest:

Dragon-kin: Several different types of Lizardfolk, with Oriental-style cultures. Shi-lung as the nobles; Shi-fal as the peasant-class, physically much larger and ponderous; Shi-za as the swamp-dwelling barbarians; Nagashi, the smaller, elegant merchants from a neighboring empire well known for their assassins; and the Yuan, stout barbarians from the mountains with their heavy natural armor. They all worship dragons in one form or another, the Shi-lung believing that they are actually descendants of a particular dragon. They were wiped out because they rediscovered the secrets of one of the previous ancient races, secrets that the gods did not want rediscovered (advanced psionics).

Fish-folk: A particularly viscious and chaotic form of Sahuagin. Due to their chaotic natures, they don't have 'breeds' or a consistant culture as such. They didn't so much get wiped out as they ate themselves to death.

Bugs: They call themselves the Kreen. There are several sub-types, but are universally considered to be insane. The first race to discover psionics and how to blend psionics and magic together. They managed to breach the barrier between the mortal world and the realm of the Gods, accidentally causing the death of Grandmother Sky. In retaliation, the gods wiped them out.

Trees: Treants, Dryads, and other fey folk. These were the first inhabitants of the newly created mortal world, and so 'mortality' as such was a bit vague. They weren't so much wiped out as declared 'boring' by the Gods, who went on to create the Kreen in order to experiment with the concept of 'aggression'.

Now, for your campaign, believe it or not, I'd say Treants. :) They won't be expecting that, now will they?

[Yakk]

Half-dragon would be also an interesting twist.

The Silver Dragon has been their protector for ages, and occasionally shape shifts and mates with them.

These "blessed" liniages then get bred into the general population. With enough matings over the aeons, the entire population has become half-dragon.

(If the Dragon takes a mate once every 50 years and has one child, over 2000 years that is 40 children. Given a bit of selective breeding on the part of the worshippers...)

[The J Pizzel]

The players will soon be asked to find artifact in a forgotten, underground city. The only entrance to the city is on the outskirts of a mountain range that has been there for ages. The range is so secluded and grand that no one has EVER attempted to cross them...therefore it is unexplored. The players will have to cross them, and of course, fight some fun, mountain side fights along the way. What I want to surprise my player with is this:

Right in the middle of the mountain, I want it to clear out and have a BEAUTIFUL hidden valley. This valley will be surrounded by mountains on all sides. No way in or out but by scaleing the mts. The valley is about 5 square miles and consists of lush green grass, large beautiful trees, and a crystal clear mountain lake. What I want is a long forgotten race to live in this valley. I just can't think of one. Here are the pre-reqs for the race:

Must be tribal.
Must be of neutral or good. I have no intention of the players fighting them.
Must be structured and battle oriented.
They will be worhsipping an Ancient Silver Wyrm. If yall could work that in, that'd be cool.
CR 5-10. My players are level 7, they'll probably be 8 when the reach the valley.

Just to let ya know, I was thinking of the Dracotaur (MM2 or MM3) but realized the were evil, so they wouldn't be worshipping a silver wyrm. But thats the route I'm working toward.
Available books are: Core, Completes, Races of's, all MM's, Frostburn, Cityscape. NO CAMPAIGN SPECIFIC BOOKS PLEASE, I DON'T HAVE ANY.

I would really like to throw them at a real obscure race. My players and I are both tired of normal humanoids.

thanks

pizzel

[Gnifle]

You could always use one of the dinosaur humanoids, I think they were presented some time ago in Dragon Magazine.

[PinkysBrain]

Sirines, with a couple of half dragon Sirines among them? (Sorry, one track mind ... I hear tribal secluded community and I think amazons.)

[Meat Shield]

Wow, this thread looks suspiciously like this thread...

[The J Pizzel]

Wow, I don't remember actually posting this yesterday. Uh, I guess the mods can close this one or something. I'm sorry bout that.

[vanyell]

an ancient race, long since forgotten?

old ones?

god damn it they're screwed
Cthulu fhtagn

[Golthur]

Shoggoths! Everyone loves shoggoths!

[Telok]

Yuan-Ti. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan-ti

No, seriously. I realize that they aren't normally Good aligned but they'd do nicely otherwise. Simply assume that the dragon went out, killed off a sect, saved the eggs (or infants if you prefer), and raised them into Good.

If they aren't quite tough enough you can always play to the high Int score the race has. Add a level or three of fighter or such to one third, a couple levels of wizard to another third, and a few levels of cleric to the last third. Have the fighters trained in magic user defense and use formations (Polearms! Stand Still! Hold the Line!) while the casters all memorize different spells with useful effects. When your players find themselves with Darkness, Grease, Glitterdust, Blindness, Hold Person, and Silence all being cast on them in the first round they may decide to take an offer of honorable surrender (assuming your game has that option).

[Were-Sandwich]

Just because MMII says Dracotaurs are evil doesn't mean they have to be.

[Accolon]

I know that you said that you and your party were tired of the "normal" humanoids, but I think Lizardfolk would fit pretty well into your hidden valley. The race is neutral, it has a warrior mentality, a base Int of 9, and would be very prone to the worship of a Silver Wyrm. Even though their environment is normally listed as temperate marshes, I grew up in a wooded town in NJ, with nary a marsh around me, and my buddy always caught lizards around our houses. My point being, the race could easily be made to fit your idea. Just a thought.

[The J Pizzel]

Let me ask yall this, (i'm the OP by the way) how do you think it would look if I had a mixed pile of races. Like a bunch of races where closed off and now they all just live harmoniously together. Dracotaurs, Lizardfolk, Yuan-Ti and maybe a couple others. They wouldn't even be segregated. They'd all live in this village/city with each race having a leader. The leader of each race respects and honors the leaders of the other races. It'd almost be a perfect utopia. In case you're wondering, no - I expect to have NO fighting in this society; however, this place will be the staging point for a couple of adventures for the PC's. So I need it to be pretty stable.

[Yakk]

Silver Dragons can shape into a humanoid form.

Given a few millenia, the occasional taking of a mate, and the worshipful humanoids breeding themselves for Dragon traits...

An entire colony of Half and Quarter Dragons. :)

[JackMage666]

If you have Savage Species, you could always tack on the Feral template to any of the common races. They'll appear savage, be quite strong and tribal, and can be any alignment you like. You can set up the NPCs to be any CR by adding class levels, and there's no reason that they wouldn't have the capacity of worshipping a Silver Dragon. And, if they're not supposed to fight them, things like their Fast Healing will not be important, so they shouldn't possess any overly powerful traits.