Iron Heroes - Races

[bbugg]

So, I've been reading a little about Iron Heroes and it sounds like a lot of fun. Gritty, low magic adventuring. However, I've found no mention of races... Is it a human only thing? Can you import other races from D&D without too much effort?

Does this carry over to the IH world as a whole - i.e. it is supposed to be more 'realistic', with no goblins, orcs, dragons, etc?

I've found lots of book reviews, but not much in the way of a discussion of the 'setting'.

Thoughts?

[Satyr]

There are no races in Iron Heroes. You just chose two background traits and that's it. If you want to play an elf, you take background feats like forest born and Perceptive and claims that you are an elf. If you want to play an Orc, you take traits like savage appearance and bloodthirsty and you are an Orc.
Because there are no races, you can also just introduce the normal PHB races and add them to the normal character creation process. The characters will become a bit more powerful (because they gain racial abilities which they didn't have before), but it is really no problem.

[bbugg]

ahhh, that makes sense.

So even though there are no explicit races, there's nothing to stop you from implement them?

Also, does this lack of races extend beyond character creation? i.e. there are (or can be) goblins in the forest and lizardmen in the swamp that need conquering, right?

[Tingel]

Correct. Iron Heroes tries to reduce the excessive amount of magical equipment and spellcraft present in everyday life in mainstream D&D. It attempts to make magic more mysterious, more dangerous, more magical. This however does not at all mean that Iron Heroes attempts to remove classical fantasy elements from the game. You can have as many dwarves, goblins and trolls in your game as you want (and the Iron Heroes Bestiary is full of fantastical creatures) - the only difference is that they don't come with loads of magical equipment ready to be looted by adventurers.

[Satyr]

So even though there are no explicit races, there's nothing to stop you from implement them?

No. Because there are no explicit races, there's nothing to stop you from implement them. The races do not colide with anything which is already in the system.

Also, does this lack of races extend beyond character creation? i.e. there are (or can be) goblins in the forest and lizardmen in the swamp that need conquering, right?

Iron claims that it is balanced against the normal MM monsters as long as they don't use save or die effects. It doesn't matter if these creatures humanoid or not.

[Hurlbut]

I am making an assumation that no one here has the sourcebook "Mastering the Iron Heroes".

First of all, you can allow any race with a LA +0 to be playable as long as they do not have any magical/spelllike abilities that may upset the IH balance.
Second, you need to keep in mind that their own racial abilities are their traits, the '2 traits' is the IH human's schtick. Alternatively, the MtIH suggest you could bring back the bonus skill points and bonus feat for the human instead of the traits if that is what you want as the GM.

[Satyr]

Second, you need to keep in mind that their own racial abilities are their traits, the '2 traits' is the IH human's schtick. Alternatively, the MtIH suggest you could bring back the bonus skill points and bonus feat for the human instead of the traits if that is what you want as the GM.

Or you just do both - race traits and background traits for everyone. The characters are a little more powerful without really hurting the game balance (and every player likes it if their characters can do an additional trick) and the traits allow to create much more interesting characters which look and feel more different and add intersting flavor.

[Hurlbut]

Or you just do both - race traits and background traits for everyone. The characters are a little more powerful without really hurting the game balance (and every player likes it if their characters can do an additional trick) and the traits allow to create much more interesting characters which look and feel more different and add intersting flavor.

However that is not what MtIH recommend. I mean seriously, you want a half-orc with +4 to strength and no increase in his stats penalties? The trait system was made with the humans in mind and not the other races.

[Satyr]

I really don't see any problem with a half-orc with a lot of strength. I may have problems with a tall dwarf or a mighty built halfling, though.
Not because this would be esspecially powerful combinations but because they are ... stupid.

If you are sceptic about certain combinations than make lists which traits are available for which race, but I don't think that this isn't necessary when there is something ike basic communication between gamemaster and players.