These are campaign setting specific rewrites. Of the locations mentioned, Rydessa is a Europe analogue, Merudia is an Asia analogue and Thyressa a North America analogue, and Thyressa is where all the gaming takes place. These four races are not by any means the only races available to PCs, they are just what I now have finished. Given that the race builder isn't really good at balance, and I just used it for inspiration rather than totaling up RP, I'm pretty sure my work is either underpowered or overpowered, or just underwhelming. Need to figure out how, so I can fix it.
The magni (singular magnus) are the most numerous race in terms of sheer numbers, though they are often outnumbered by other races in specific regions. They can be found everywhere people live. It is impossible to generalize about their appearances, given that they differ all over the world. In terms of Pathfinder rules, they are treated as humans. Within the campaign setting, human is a term used to refer to all humanoid races.
Dwarves
Dwarves are one of the few races that can be found worldwide, and are almost as diverse as the magni. As a result, their body shape is quite varied, ranging from the stocky mountain dwellers of central Rydessa to the slender halflings of northwestern Rydessa and the pygmies of Nyambe, Merundia, and the Sapphire ocean, though all of them are shorter than magni or elves. They have a wide range of cultures (though, curiously enough, all of them are known for craftsmen or artisans, and are mountain, hill, or highland peoples, including the coast dwellers), with the most commonly encountered in Thyressa being:
Teutarans: They hail from the highlands and mountains of southern Teutara (a nation in central Rydessa), and were historically known as shepherds, miners, and craftsmen. Their culture is known for it’s generally informal attitude, welcoming attitude towards outsiders, love of beer, elegantly curved and twirled beards, and dedication to maintaining a reputation for fine craftsmanship to the point that they’ll often (though not necessarily always) forgo profits that could be made by lowering standards. They don’t much farm or brew, preferring to get their grain, produce, and beer through trade with the Magni. Like the Magni in southern Teutara, they commonly wear the dirndl and lederhosen. Teutaran dwarves in Thyressa have taken to wearing knöchelhosen (lederhosen that covers the entire leg), but so far they are the only ones who commonly use the garment.
Sievarti: Hailing from the mountains and fjords of western Sievart (a nation in the north of central Rydessa), the Sievarti dwarves are one of the tougher peoples around. Many of them live underground as miners and craftsmen, while some others live on the coast and make their living as fishermen, shipbuilders, and sailors. There are a respectable number of Sievarti dwarves living on the coast of northeastern Kaelmara (an island nation to the west of Sievart). When dealing with outsiders they tend to be polite and respectful but not very open or talkative. They are much more sociable with friends and family, but it takes a long time to gain the trust and friendship of a Sievarti dwarf. Some elves and magni say the Sievarti dwarves are greedy misers who love money more than family, but aside from a few outliers this is a racist screed without basis in reality. Those in Sievart and Kaelmara tend to be slow to change, are nominally loyal to the elven Kings but mostly handle their own affairs, and mostly hold themselves accountable to extended family clans, but most of those living in Thyressa live in urban areas and don’t have deep clan ties anymore. Sievarti dwarves tend to have long, braided beards, long hair that often has braids, like expensive clothing and jewelry., and are almost as fond of liquor as Teutaran dwarves.
Halflings: These slender dwarves are from southern Kaelmara, Allira (a nation just above and west of Teutara), and Leontiny (a nation in western Rydessa). Like Teutaran and Sievarti dwarves they are often craftsmen, but they tend to mostly work in wood and cloth, not stone or steel, and are almost never seen working in mines. They dwell in hills and highlands, and are shepherds, farmers, and artisans. They are known to be friendly and hospitable towards outsiders, are very community oriented and apt to get into their neighbors’ business and problems, and live in mixed communities with elves and magni, who they treat the same as they would treat other halflings. They are surprisingly good warriors for their size, because most of them take the duty to protect the rest of the community in times of danger very seriously. They commonly live in both rural areas and cities. They enjoy finely crafted food and goods, elegant music, storytelling, and the comfort of friends and neighbors.
Kagora: Slender and pale mountain dwellers from Minkasai (an island nation off of the continent of Merundia). A lot of them have red hair, but black and brown is also common. Like so many other dwarves, they are skilled craftsmen, and are often miners, loggers, artisans, and fishermen. They have been trading with other races for centuries, but their rulers forbid them from forming personal relationships with non-Kagora, and require them to cover themselves among other races. Their culture stresses propriety and has strict rules on how to address people of different social rules, often based on the situation at hand. They have their own king, a feared autocrat who preaches rigid and unerring adherence to social rules, xenophobia, and draconian punishment for deviants, and tries to run peoples’ day to day lives. A lot of kagora have fled, but those who remain in Minkasai are hunted as traitors, so a great many have made for Thyressa, hoping to be beyond the reach of their king. They often have a hard time learning to socialize outside of their strict societal rules, which gets them stereotyped as shy, bumbling, and socially awkward. They tend to be glad for their freedom and want to work hard to build a new life, but have little knowledge of how the world outside their civilization works.
Stats:
Medium Humanoid
+2 to one ability score.
Slow speed (20 feet, not modified by armor), Climb 20 feet, +8 racial bonus to Climb
Low Light Vision
+2 to Craft, Disable Device, and Knowledge (Engineering) checks
Mountaineer (no altitude sickness, retain dex to AC while climbing or crossing narrow/slippery surfaces)
Elves
Elves are a race native to Kaelmara, Sievarti, Allira, Leontiny, and Teutara. They are pale skinned (very often with faint stripes or spots), have a wide range of hair and eye colors, have sharp ears, are slender and average about 5’5” tall, and have little difference in physical build between men and women. They have scalp hair like other human races, but the rest of their external body is always hairless. They view themselves as a refined and cultured people, and make up the majority of the population in Kaelmara and Sievart, an ample minority in Allira, and a tiny minority in Leontiny and Teutara. In Kaelmara, Sievart, and Allira they make up a substantial portion of the aristocracy, and are the kings and queens. They value education, social grace, elegance, writing, art, courage, and skill at arms, and enjoy travel and the outdoors. The aristocracy tends to be outwardly polite and gregarious but unwilling to share anything other than platitudes with those who aren’t very close friends, while the lower classes tend to be fairly open with outsiders and mistrusting of the aristocracy, and have a knack for being very direct in their speech without being rude or coarse. They are very proud of their culture, to the point that a lot of elven aristocrats view themselves as the natural choice to rule over magni and dwarves, and almost any elf enjoys telling others about their traditions. A good portion of elves outside the aristocracy think the rulers are stuck up prigs, and the lower ranks of elven society tend to lack the arrogance towards magni and dwarves than higher ranking elves have. Lower class and aristocratic elves typically display an “us versus them” attitude towards each other. Elven kingdoms are not politically stable at all, given the habit the aristocrats have of squabbling with each other and the disdain the lower classes of elves and non-elves tend to have towards the aristocrats. Thyressa used to have two elven kingdoms, but one is now a republic (though most of the rich are elves, which is often resented), and the other has a magni king and a defunct aristocracy.
Stats:
Medium Humanoid
Speed 40 ft
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Con
+2 save versus enchantment spells and effects
+2 to Perception checks
Swordtrained (automatic proficiency with sword type weapons)
Automatic proficiency with longbows, shortbows, and firearms
Drow:
A race native to the same places as elves, drow have black, very dark blue or purple, or grey skin, light hair (often white or silver, or white with a slight color tinge), and blue, purple, gray, or black eyes. They have the same height and body type as an elf. Historically, elves have not liked them, and a lot of nasty rumors about their origin, moral inclinations, and intelligence circulated. They were ghettoized and treated as an underclass, and when Thyressa was discovered a lot of drow got rounded up and transported there to get them out of elven hair. Then elves decided they actually wanted to settle Thyressa, and ended up hiring the drow to menial or tough jobs for poor wages while denying them the ability to get hired into higher paying jobs. Immigration, increasing standards of living, and a widening gulf between the elven aristocracy and pretty much everybody else caused attitudes towards drow to slowly shift, with a lot of lower class elves and other races siding with the drow. They don’t face the massive level of discrimination they used to, but there are still a lot of racist attitudes. It’s just gone underground instead of being open. As a culture, drow are deeply family and neighborhood oriented, socially active, quick to help each other out, and generous. Given their history, they are slow to trust outsiders, but they value hospitality and giving everybody a fair chance. They are protective of their songs, story, and history, and prize hard work, determination, and an unwillingness to bow to the demands of others.
Stats
Medium Humanoid
Speed 40 ft
+2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha (Drow are used to long and hard work, and tend to be determined and cautious. While they are very social with their neighbors and coworkers and quick to be helpful, they are also extremely blunt and straightforward, and tend not to sugar coat words or dance around questions.)
+2 save versus enchantment spells and effects
+2 to Perception and Sense Motive checks
Healthy (+4 fort versus disease and poison, including magic)
Get Endurance free
Low Light Vision
Seraphim:
Seraphim are a people native to southern Rydessa. They are about 5’10” on average for males and 5’6” on average for females, and tend to be sturdily built. They have well tanned skin, metallic or jewel colored eyes, brown or black hair, and magnificent feathered wings, usually white or brown (other colors are not unheard of). Each wing is about as big as the Seraphim is tall. Seraphim used to be able to fly, but the gods stripped that from them centuries ago for an offense nobody knows the nature of. Now, their wings are heavy and don’t curve enough for proper lift generation. Many have turned to magical and technological solutions to this problem, but have only found solutions that work for rare and very skilled individuals, not something that can be applied to the race as a whole. As a people, they are intelligent and learned, very open with friends and family, quick to form new relationships, and energetic. They usually live in cities and have good relationships with other races, and their closest friends are usually thought of as cousins, aunts, and uncles, regardless of race. They are commonly scholars, engineers, lawyers, alchemists, or wizards.
Stats
-2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int (Seraphim are well learned, and carrying heavy wings around all the time has built up their endurance quite a bit, but the wings do impede their agility.)
Medium Humanoid
Speed 30 ft
Hardy (+2 saves versus poison, spells, spell like abilities)
+2 to Charisma based skills
Vestigial Wings (+4 Fly checks)
Emissary (Reroll Bluff or Diplomacy 1/day)
You simplified what each race gets. Was that intentional?
You simplified what each race gets. Was that intentional?
What do you mean by simplified?
When I wrote them, I was looking at lists of racial abilities to see what fits the concepts I have of each race. I wasn't really thinking in terms of simple or complex. If by simple you mean not having alternate racial abilities, I may well write those at some point, but they are pretty low on my list of priorities.
I do wonder if Seraphim should get +2 Str instead of +2 Con, since carrying capacity is governed by Str and not Con. Plus, a scholarly race with a Str bonus would actually be pretty cool. I also imagine them as still being somewhat bitter about having these gorgeous wings and not being able to actually fly. They are also prone to overdoing or overthinking things.
The bavarian dwarves made me laugh. I'm not sure I could take those seriously (but I'm from Germany, so that might be a factor).
As pointed out in another thread, I prefer to split up racial backgrounds into a racial, cultural, and social background. It helps to avoid stereotypes.
It would be interesting to know how you are going to handle racism in your game. I always felt that it should have a greater impact, but, at the same time, I don't want my game to be too gritty. It's a difficult balancing act.
The stat block are shorter. The races as they appear in the crb would not be that brief. You answered my question though. That wasn't a critique, just a question.
I think halfling constable could totally be a trope in this setting, given their community oriented culture, high degree of integration, and ability to hold their own in a fight. Funny, given the halfling rogue trope. Not that these halflings wouldn't make good rogues. Low light vision, +2 to any Stat, dex to ac on narrow or slippery surfaces, +2 to crafting and disable device, and a climb speed are not bad abilities for an urban rogue.