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I have a campaign world I been using for sometime. Just as my tastes have changed so has the world. I been influenced by many things. In recent times I have read many of the materials for Fading Suns and Warhammer 40K. Those got me thinking about race relations. I have always though of how the races act in the default setting as kinda silly. Elves are always bad a$$, angelic beings that are better then everyone and sneer at lesser races. Halflings and humans get along and so on.
In reality...I think there would be out and out bigotry. I like how they handle it in Fading Suns. In my game I have introduced it a bit...but it still feels like generic fantasy. I am trying to get the feeling you get in Fading Suns...maybe even as extreme as in Warhammer 40k.
This brings me to the issue that I am wondering about. Am I using the wrong races? Are they too familiar. I tried to tweak them to make them odd. LIke a peanutbutter and cream cheese sandwich. You know what peanutbutter. You know cream cheese. But together...thats different. The one I am wondering about is the two "small races". Why two of them? Why halflings and gnomes? Is including them and the rest of the core races making things to familiar...even if the races are not exactly the same? Should I use other races?
Anyways if this is of an interest...please let me know. Post a "hell yeah" and I will go into detail about what I changed to make things different, then tell me if it is different enough.
Well, I'm curious what you've done about the races, and knowing that, it may be easier to give meaningful suggestions about what you still can do to increase the feeling you're driving for. As for the two small races, I have to say I wish there was only one as well. However, my players like both and I don't care so much as to out and out ban one of them (it would probably be the halfings if I went that way, though). I made the halflings wandering gypsies who find employment as migrant workers. The race is looked down upon (pun intended) by human society, particularly the nobility. The peasants and lowborn relate to them more, even romanticize them for their freedom; but anyone with any property is wary at best around the halflings.
I made gnomes into the druidic race of the world. I completely severed their connection to technology and tinkering, placing that and golem-crafting in the hands of the dwarves (where I believe it makes more sense). The gnomes are the feyborn race. It also took the wind out of the elves' druid sails. There are still some camps of druidic elves, just as there are druidic humans, but the race is not defined by the class as much. This also helps reduce "elf-bloat," which is a real problem in the "common" setting. I really love elves as a race, but I'll be the first to admit their standard portrayal has some big flaws. In order to make them more compelling, I've played up their arcane aspect to the major reduction of all others.
I also changed orcs. My reasoning is that if dwarves can be legendary for their endurance with "just" a +2 Con bonus, then orcs can be legendary for their might with "just" a +2 Str bonus. So, no more MM orcs, and the "half" was dropped from the half-orc. I also got rid of the race's Charisma penalty to be a little more equitable; again, I reason that if a demon can have a high Charisma (which most do) because of their fearsomeness, then orcs can as well. I left the Intelligence penalty in place. I provided them with a few skill bonuses appropriate for their role in my world, and unveiled the new/modified player race.
Racially, the orcs live in the same mountains as the dwarves, but above the ground rather than below them. They tend to be Chaotic and the dwarves Lawful, and thus fight and war constantly; but neither has more or less tendency towards Good rather than Evil. There are plenty of other Chaotic Evil humanoids to populate the wild regions with (gnolls and bugbears come readily to mind). That said, orcs don't have an easy time of things because of how other races perceive them. I lessened the orc-elf conflict (replacing goblin-kind as the elves' traditional enemies), but really heightened the orc-dwarf conflict.
Racial identities, and the tensions they create, are one of the best ways to really define a campaign setting. Let us know what you've done, and maybe we can help you come up with the crunch and fluff that will give your homebrew the uniqueness you desire!
Hell yeah!
I'm always interested in tweaking races. I think outright bigotry is a little far for my tastes, though. (I'm only vaguely aware that 40k is at least... Something like that) Regardless, I'm certainly interested in hearing about yours.
A quick thought on gnomes and halflings; I believe there are two small races primarily to provide choice, and specifically to give one a physical and one a mental edge. (looking in the PHB, I just realized the bonuses are CON (gnomes) and DEX (halflings) and in the PFRPG beta they both get CHA and share favored class (bard), so maybe that's just in my head)
I've been letting some racial ideas simmer for my own homebrew setting I may get to work on after I completely my current mostly mish-mash campaign. My first thought is to provide options, with every race having several different flavors (and not just the ubiquitous wood/wild/plains/gray/dark/high/chartreuse elves). How exactly I would want to do that is obviously vague, at this point, but it seems like a nice springboard. I've also been tinkering with the idea of two 'superraces' (in the sense that the normal races are sub-races) of the Fair Folk (Elves, Halflings, and Humans) and the Stout Folk (Dwarves, Gnomes, and Orcs), which can only interbreed with each other (hence fun things like half-halflings and dworcs). That's something quite fresh out of the ol' brainpan, though, so I'm still not sure if it's a keeper.
I, personally, like to fold the gnomes in with the dwarves, making the two symbiotic. The dwarves are the traditional resource-and-crafting guys, and the gnomes are the innovators, great thinkers, and such. More the type of gnome that hangs out in your garden or gets you great discounts on travel than the fey sort (though I've seen fey gnomes done quite well before).
Some of my inspiration comes from The Elder Scrolls (e.g. the Morrowind and Oblivion computer games), where races are mostly split Man (with about four variant humans) and Mer (elves, including the wood, dark, and 'high' variety complete with all the nature symbiosis, haughty questionable ethics, and magic ability - respectively, of course - one might expect). There are also orcs (who are more like proud warrior race guys than bloodthirsty miscreants), but I think they fall technically on the Man side of the fence. Green-Men-with-tusks, anyway. There's also beast races and more than a few that only appear in ancient lore. It's actually an interesting setting in and of itself, and might be worth your time to look up as well.
Anyway, back to some of your questions; I think you can do a lot just recoloring races and developing more than 'elves are haughty magnificent hmm-hmms', 'dwarves are Scottish stoics', and 'orcs are big mean poopyheads'. It also depends a lot on your players. If they expect generic fantasy, they'd probably be perplexed if you completely started shoving 'alien' races in. (Though there's a lot to say, in my opinion, for 'upgrading' monstrous races if done well.) Just throwing in some big twists to classic archetypes, if done well, can make things memorable enough. The big thing is to flesh out cultures and such; that's how The Elder Scrolls gets away with having 'just' humans, elves, and furries.
Also;
I really love elves as a race, but I'll be the first to admit their standard portrayal has some big flaws. In order to make them more compelling, I've played up their arcane aspect to the major reduction of all others.
That is a simple, elegant solution that makes me jealous I didn't think of it. I guess I just couldn't see through aforementioned "elf-bloat".
Hell yeah!
I'm always interested in tweaking races. I think outright bigotry is a little far for my tastes, though. (I'm only vaguely aware that 40k is at least... Something like that) Regardless, I'm certainly interested in hearing about yours.
>>snipped<<
I've been letting some racial ideas simmer for my own homebrew setting I may get to work on after I completely my current mostly mish-mash campaign. My first thought is to provide options, with every race having several different flavors (and not just the ubiquitous wood/wild/plains/gray/dark/high/chartreuse elves). How exactly I would want to do that is obviously vague, at this point, but it seems like a nice springboard. I've also been tinkering with the idea of two 'superraces' (in the sense that the normal races are sub-races) of the Fair Folk (Elves, Halflings, and Humans) and the Stout Folk (Dwarves, Gnomes, and Orcs), which can only interbreed with each other (hence fun things like half-halflings and dworcs). That's something quite fresh out of the ol' brainpan, though, so I'm still not sure if it's a keeper.
I, personally, like to fold the gnomes in with the dwarves, making the two symbiotic. The dwarves are the traditional resource-and-crafting guys, and the gnomes are the innovators, great thinkers, and such. More the type of gnome that hangs out in your garden or gets you great discounts on travel than the fey sort (though I've seen fey gnomes done quite well before).
Interesting ideas.
In my own campaign world (which is a mix of steampunk, mad-science, and the age of sail, with traditional fantasy), I actually have a couple of very racist orgainzations. One is an order of second adn third generation half-elves, with a mad on against both of there progenitor races, the other is a species-preservation league bent on externinating ALL half-breeds and keeeping the races from mixing (with there current target for "cleansing" being a statistically human race from my world reffered to as the long-teeth, basically a large population of humans who over many generations of interbreeding with local orcs produced a disticnt phenotype).
I personally wish I had come up with a solution to the "elf-bloat" and two little people race issues as elegant as others here have. My solution was to take the Talislanta approach, there are no elves (I have since been modifying my world, there will be two elf-like races in it when I start back-up, the Sidhe and the Drau (which are actually a species of giant, but only look like clasic Drow).
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During the Pathfinder Betatest, I introduced the use of Plague Elves (half elf/half human) who are austracised and attacked by human and elf population alike for the singular reality that they have in the past been a source of disease. Human diseases shifted species to elves and viceversa.
Kaiya: a half elf and 1st level paladin of everyone's favourite god of farming.
She was going to be butchered by the local human villagers for being a Plague Elf but when it was revealed that she was a paladin of their god of farming, they put her in a Palanquin sized cage and suspended her cage from the ceiling of the village tavern. She spent three years as the village "detect evil". She was eventually rescued by a group of Lawful Evil Soldiers from a nearby Baron. The irony of it.
So here are the middenborn:
midden elf: Half elf/half Orc; born from acts of violence, the midden elf are always thrown from cliffs into deep chasms without comprimise or compassion from their elf parent.
bog elf: Half elf/half troll; a little more tolerated by the single fact that this event occured so far back in history that it was long forgotten. the Bog Elf are 7 feet fae tall with leathery green skin and claws. from an elf perspective they are ealdrin with their ability to regenerate damage.
plague elf: Half Elf/half human; the despised and most hated of the three mixed heritage clans. the prospect of elf born magical plagues descimating a human populace had driven the half elf into hiding.
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Well, I'm curious what you've done about the races, and knowing that, it may be easier to give meaningful suggestions about what you still can do to increase the feeling you're driving for.
I apolgize in advance for such a long post...please bear with me.
Humans: There are four ethnicities of them taking cue from Forgotten Realms. So as to not get bogged down with campaign specific language I won't use it here. You have "Imperials". They came to the current country from another to live a better life. The lands they came from were over run with evil such as hags, earthbound demon and such. Their leader is this quasi divine person. Cross between Moses and Jesus...he died and came back AND he takes his people to the promise land. I only recently read and saw "Prince Caspian" and saw how the Telmarines were and said "Oh Gawds...that is very much like these guys". "Merchants" are foreigners from a Slavic-like land similar to Ravenloft Barovia and all. They came with the "Imperials" when they came to the new lands. Third are the "Barbarians". Think of how Europeans treated Native American and you are on the right boat. The "Barbarians" treated them pretty good but were forced off their lands after the "Imperials" + "Merchants" got settled. Lastly are the "Pirates". They have African looks rather than European ones. They do not have lands...they live on ships their whole lives. They actually get sea sick on land...lack of motion bothers them. They use to be the scourge of the seas until the "Great War" in which they became privateers for the "Imperials". The "Imperials" have a religion that will remind people of the Church of Silver Flame from Eberron or the Church of Light from Fading Suns. Initially non-humans had no soul...period per church doctrine. Thusly they had no problem with expansion in the new world. No issues slaughtering goblins and displacing orcs. This changed when they meet halflings. There were like them...but short. Their native religion was even similar. Rather than slaughter and take over...they absorbed them into their country. Similar things happened with other demi humans.
Halflings: Most are fat, hobbit, shire living farmers. There are other ones that are slender gypsy types (PHB standard), mountain dwelling and allied with dwarves and pony riding tall ones allied with elves. All in all...get along with humans well. They adapted the fastest to "Imperial" culture and their language is mostly "Imperial" with a few old halfling words.
Gnomes: Two types. The standard PHB one had a nice kingdom that was on the brink of civil war when "Imperials" stepped in. One wanted a council to rule. The other supported the king. The "Imperials" stepped in and supported the king who in turn is basically a puppet for the "Imperials". The "Imperials" and gnomes loyal to the king squashed the rebels and now live in an oppressive autocratic state. The second gnome is the fey like forest gnome as inspired by D&D 4E.
Dwarves: They live in city states. Each is a different nation for a lack of a better word. They don't all get along. Seeing how good they were in battle and the fact they have smoke powder (Think Iron Kingdoms, not Forgotten Realms) the "Imperials" would keep trading agreements with them, mutual protection pacts (excluding dwarf on dwarf war) and hire them as mercenaries. There are four flavors of dwarf depending on what happened during a cataclysm long ago. Hill Dwarf...standard dwarf. They stayed put and rebuilt. Mountain Dwarf...they went higher in elevation...not deeper in depth. They have griffon riders and the like. Deep Dwarves...think Forgotten Realms Gold Dwarves. When quakes happened they went deeper underground. Lastly Sundered. They were locked out. The trauma caused them to NOT like underground. Think Narnian Dwarves. Great smiths, carpenters and good with their hands...not necessarily miners.
Elves: When the "Imperials" moved west and either slaughtered goblins, orc and bugbears (oh my) for their lands...or added a race to their lands like with halflings the finally came across elves. Not Tolkinesque high elves. No...savage, dark hair, tattooed, woad wearing Wild Elves. Think Grugach or Kagonesti. Nomadic, spartan and everything antithesis to the "Imperials". When they tried to subjugate them like Halflings and Gnomes...they fought back. When the "Imperials" fought back and started to win...they brought in "High Elves". At first the "Imperials" were losing...they thought they were divine mithral clad angels. No one saw one fall in battle. They wielded powerful magic and never took off their armor or showed their faces under their helms. The high elves took command of the Wild Elves and that was the "Elf Wars". This went on for about 4 years...until....well...see orcs for more.
Orc (and other humanoids): There were VERY numerous prior to the "Imperials" coming to town from across the sea. Hobgoblins at one time had cities and an oppressive empire across the country. They were very caste driven with Hobgoblins on top everyone else below. Orcs were looked on as “tribal primitives” and have a druidic outlook…guardian hippie good guy druids…primal nature type…somewhat like Iron Kingdoms druids. With the coming of the “Imperials” from a homeland wrought with monsters and a divine mandate that absolves them of sin for killing an “inhuman” they kicked the hobgoblins and other “inhumans” out by any means possible. There were pushed to the absolutely worst lands that there was. They then plotted, planned and swore revenge. The orcs emerged as two races. The druid tribal type that wanted to stay put and show they can survive and the militant organized type…like Spelljammer Scro….call them “Tough Orcs” for now. A very charismatic and ambitious “Tough Orc” united orcs with other inhuman races and created a “horde” that hit the “Imperial Humans” and the High Elves while in the middle of their squabble. That caused them to put their differences aside and fight together as allies against the “horde”. After the “Allies” one the “Great War” the divided lands up. They gave the “Barbarians” lands…mind you it was horrible wastelands but land is land…and they found gold and iron in it. “Imperials” are now kicking themselves over it. The borders are now set…no “Imperial” expansion into “High Elven” land. The “Wild Elves” have land…and settle now…they have one whole city! The inhumans are back to in-fighting and scrapping out a life away from humans.
Half Races: Half Elves raised by humans are like other half elves. No real change from standard games. Ones raised by elves have different racial abilities and are more elf-like. Orcs are in the same boat. Ones raise by humans...almost always “Barbarians” are like other half orcs in other games. The ones raised by orcs are assassins and other sneaky professions. They are smarter and more inclined to think about stuff before killing it then an orc.
Other Races: There are other ones…but I haven’t really gone into detail about them. I like Goliaths, Raptorans and a few others. Not a big fan of animal headed furries. From on table top sources…I love the idea of Tengu, Asurans and Norn from Guild Wars.
So…this is my setting in a nutshell. I don’t normally share details online…so this is a big deal to me. Please be honest and help me “pimp my game”.
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Really? You like it that much? Seriously I am suprised! That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that a fellow gamer likes my setting...without having to play it first. I am always leery about sharing over the Net and all. I am more of a face to face gamer...although I do enjoy Guild Wars. Look me up as Jashdar Fin or Aries Omega. I have more then those two characters...I just play those to more lately.
Go ahead and yoink it for personal use. In fact if you need more info get with me off list at AriesOmega at gmail dot com.
As for the rest of you...Cato Novus included...is the fact I am using the standard races keeping to familiar? I mean like in Fading Suns they got some odd stuff there that help make races feel alien. Examples can be found here: http://fadingsuns.wikia.com/wiki/Alien_Races
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Hell yeah!
I'm always interested in tweaking races. I think outright bigotry is a little far for my tastes, though. (I'm only vaguely aware that 40k is at least... Something like that) Regardless, I'm certainly interested in hearing about yours.
>>snipped<<
I've been letting some racial ideas simmer for my own homebrew setting I may get to work on after I completely my current mostly mish-mash campaign. My first thought is to provide options, with every race having several different flavors (and not just the ubiquitous wood/wild/plains/gray/dark/high/chartreuse elves). How exactly I would want to do that is obviously vague, at this point, but it seems like a nice springboard. I've also been tinkering with the idea of two 'superraces' (in the sense that the normal races are sub-races) of the Fair Folk (Elves, Halflings, and Humans) and the Stout Folk (Dwarves, Gnomes, and Orcs), which can only interbreed with each other (hence fun things like half-halflings and dworcs). That's something quite fresh out of the ol' brainpan, though, so I'm still not sure if it's a keeper.
I, personally, like to fold the gnomes in with the dwarves, making the two symbiotic. The dwarves are the traditional resource-and-crafting guys, and the gnomes are the innovators, great thinkers, and such. More the type of gnome that hangs out in your garden or gets you great discounts on travel than the fey sort (though I've seen fey gnomes done quite well before).
Interesting ideas.
In my own campaign world (which is a mix of steampunk, mad-science, and the age of sail, with traditional fantasy), I actually have a couple of very racist orgainzations. One is an order of second adn third generation half-elves, with a mad on against both of there progenitor races, the other is a species-preservation league bent on externinating ALL half-breeds and keeeping the races from mixing (with there current target for "cleansing" being a statistically human race from my world reffered to as...
In a prior campaign, I reached into the wayback machine and introduced the "Knights of Genetic Purity" (from Gamma World) into a campaign that involved Far Realmsian taint and such; while their overt cause was the eradication of the corruption of the Far Realms, they were also against all other kinds of corruption, including specifically race-mixing, and drew largely from both humans and elves.
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In my own campaign world (which is a mix of steampunk, mad-science, and the age of sail, with traditional fantasy), I actually have a couple of very racist orgainzations. One is an order of second adn third generation half-elves, with a mad on against both of there progenitor races, the other is a species-preservation league bent on externinating ALL half-breeds and keeeping the races from mixing (with there current target for "cleansing" being a statistically human race...
I actually already yoinked ideas about that. There are racial purtity groups out there. Not just humans...but others too.
The biggest one are the hardliners from the Church. Anti-magic sentiment is big. According to the hardliners, only three instances of people are allowed to use magic. The Church since they can use it and avoid temptation and sin. Thusly priests are mulitclassed wizards or at least keep it locked away from common people.
Magic is for the Nobles...a form of extreme penance...they use magic to help the common man. They hope the good they do with it outweighs the sin of using magic and that they can still get into heaven.
Magic is for the repentent. If you are born a sorcerer...you are sinning at birth. The only way to get into heaven is to give yourself to the Church, let them brand you as a penitent and do EXACTLY what the priest tells you and you may have a small...very small chance at salvation.
I got the idea from Fading Suns :)
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Heh, you may not be later. I steal from everything I find interesting, then twist and contort them untill they are hideous monstrosities, barely recognizable even as grotesque mockeries of their former selves.
This is why I bring the canvas tent, to keep me safe, just ask Saern.
Interesting idea there. So...all joking aside. What are you alls thoughts on this? What should I do. Pimp this thing out.
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One thing I think you may find an interest in if you like racial conflict is the following. I'm copying it from a text document I'm working on to hand out to my players once I get things going. It deals with the differences between Elves, Humanity, Errants(Half-Elves), and Goblinoids. Its mostly specific to my own homebrew game world, Tegara, but you may be able to find uses for it.
Elves
Elves have a very strong connection to their Fey roots, and are considered by most races(especially their own) as the "highest order of Fairy". Elves have Chaotic bent in their Ethics, but no specific Moral tendancies. Similar to Auberen, their deity.
Elven Culture
Elves are known for enjoying each facet of life that it has to offer, and when tiring one thing, they will devote themselves to something else. This is true for all aspects of every Elf's life. However, for a race that measures their age in centuries, this can take quite a while, in respect to other races.
One thing Elves have never tired of, however, are parties; and as the old Dwarven saying goes "An Elven party means one of two things: Someone is getting married, or divorced." For a race that lives for decades upon decades, Elves simply cannot comprehend the concept of spending their entire lives married to a single person. Most of their marriages last for a mere four or five centuries as they eventually tire of each other and move on.
Pregnancies and births are some of the biggest celebrations, as many Elves live their entire lives and never have any children. Each baby is guarded with the lives of every Elf around, as they see them not as blessed events, but rare blessed events. So careful are they of children, that barely any member of a race other than Elves has ever seen one less than sixty years old.
Most Elves are known to choose a “world” name. That is, they will only share their real name with each other. When speaking with a member of another race, they use a name they have given themselves. These names tend to be anything the Elf takes a fancy to, and some have been known to change them every few centuries. Examples include Reed, Greyleaf, Blade, Nick, and Grift.
Elves are not considered to have reached adulthood until after their first century. Elves do not die of old age. They are effectively immortal, aside from violence, accident, or disease.
Elven Relations with Humankind
Elves don't quite know what to make of Humanity. On one hand, they wither and die so quickly. On the other, they breed and propagate like rats, spreading across the world as if a plague. They have no specific god, none being created them. And yet, they adapt and survive somehow. And they looked amazingly similar to Elves.
So the Elves took it upon themselves to domesticate these pitiful creatures; to teach them language, magic, the sciences, and so forth. After the first decade, the first Elf/Human hybrid was born to a female Elf. Elvenkind quickly realized that while it was so difficult to procreate with their own, they could much more easily have children of this mixed lineage. And so, many Elf couples who wanted have a child decided that if they couldn't have an Elf baby, they would have the next best thing. These hybrid babies even became a new fashion, for a time.
But many of these new children did not meet their parent's standards. Many human traits seemed dominant(to Elven eyes), so much that these half-Elves, or "Errants" as they were beginning to be called, did not fit in well. Most were outlived by their Elf parents, who were left to grieve over them. While they were alive, they normally had bigger builds and more bodily hair than their Elven peers. They were not typically as limber as their Elven kin, nor were they as naturally proficient at magic, either.
Treated as second-class citizens, the Errants, were just slightly better off than the Humans(many of whom resented the Errants), who were a step below them in Elven society. Then things changed. The Elves began to push the Errants out even further. And so the Errant War began.
This three-sided conflict went on for a long time, and eventually the majority of the Errants sided with the shorter-lived Humans. The war came to a close with no clear victor, it just suddenly stopped. Errants became their own people, on mostly even terms with the Humans, while the Elves became more secluded. Occasionally new Errants emerge amongst the Human or Elven communities, but this is now few and far between, and the Elves today are a slowly dwindling breed. The aloof nature of the Elves is mostly to blame, for most Elves do not live on this world, they live above it.
Errant
"Errant" is the name for a new race that emerged when Elves began to breed with Humans in hopes of getting the children they desperately wanted. While Errants were seen by many Elves as inferior and by many Humans as outsiders; they are, in actuality, a balanced blending of their Human and Elven parents.
The Elven point of view was brought about by their knowledge(or more accurately, their belief) that they are the peak of their god's creations, with Errants being called “less than Elven”, but implied that they are less than perfect.
Humans, on the other hand, saw them as different. Curious, really, since Humanity had many differences among itself due to how it came into being.
As Errants became integrated into Human society, they meshed with it to the point that most Elves view Errants as Humans. This point is debatable. Those Errants that were raised with Elves, however, are treated almost the same as Elves, as much as Elven pride will allow, anyway.
Most Errants are constantly aware that they don’t quite fit in no matter where they are. They will always be viewed as different, or deficient, and they know it. This is why they tend to get along with Humans much more easily, as all humans are different. Their mixed lineage, however, leaves them with need to prove themselves or the need to travel, sometimes both.
"Dark Elves" and Goblinoids
"Dark Elves" have no physical traits or stat differences from the standard elves. Dark Elves are members of four outcast tribes. They are referred to as "Dark Elves" because of their practices which are considered taboo to all the other elven tribes. These Taboos include Necromancy, cannibalism(albeit only one of the four tribes performs this), tattoos & scarification, and the twisting & perverting of life to serve their desires(a thin distinction from the "education" the human servants other Elven received, but enough to matter to the Elves). As a side note, among these four tribes(sometimes referred to as "The Four Lost Tribes", when Elves are willing to acknowledge their existence at all), they refer to themselves as "True Elves".
Like the other Elven tribes, the Dark Elves kept humans among them as servants, but over time they began to experiment with altering them to suit their particular needs. They began to magically mix bits of their own heredity to "improve" the human stock along traits of particular animals to create a sentient slave race capable of greater amounts of endurance. These Four Tribes saw their method of improving humanity as subservient workers superior to the others.
The initial trials were to take the base Human stock, then to add a generous amount of traits from bears and wolves, as well as some pig and finally infusing this monstrosity with Elven blood. These brutish creatures were derisively referred to as "Bugbears" and considered an overall failure. However, a few families within the Four Tribes found uses for them when pure strength was desired over all else.
Bugbears take a -2 to Intelligence and lose the +1 level adjustment along with all other bonuses and penalties when compared to the core rules.
A change in thought process led them to try altering a younger generation. The concept was that by changing the nature of the human as a child, this would allow the changes to take a stronger hold and the new creature would grow into being superior to Humanity. The alterations included using traits from wolves and pigs, but forgoing the augmentation of traits from bears; once again, they were infused with Elven blood and brought into the world.
Unfortunately, the beings created were little more than gibbering little psychopaths. Their fragile minds were broken and the changes warped their bodies so that they would never mature. They could age, wither, and die; but would never grow and therefore could not procreate(to the Dark Elves, this meant that they could not self-perpetuate, and would require creation every time a generation died out). The Dark Elves saw these horrid creatures as utter failures. They were referred to as "Goblin", which was an amalgamation of the Elven words "Perverse Failure". Many of them escaped captivity and disappeared into the wilderness.
This new species began to propagate itself by taking Human children(and the occasional Elven child, if they can find one who has left the tribe) and changing them through a process unlike the original Dark Elf method, yet achieves the same results.
Goblins take a -2 to Intelligence and lose the -2 to Charisma.
There were three more attempts, the final was the most successful of all hybridizations to date, but this is a relative term.
The Dark Elves had returned to using adult Humans as their subjects. This attempt was much like that which resulted in the Bugbears, although the Dark Elves decided to use more wolf traits than those of the bears, without the use of pigs. Once the combination of the creatures and infusion of Elven blood was completed, the first "Hobgoblins" came into existence.
These hybrid creatures had all the desired traits, save one, they retained the Human will to be free. After generations of servitude, they broke free from the Dark Elves.
Exploiting the Errant War and the other Elven Tribes unwillingness to use goblinoid troops in the war; the Hobgoblins staged a revolt and escaped(along with the majority of the Bugbears) to carve their own niche in the world.
During their years serving the Four Tribes, they had developed their own language, built upon a bastardization of the first human languages, the Elven tongue, and beast-like growls, simply calling it "Gob". Gob eventually developed a written form, based loosely on a haphazard mixture of elven script and two or three very old human languages.
Hobgoblins add "Scent" to their listing, but are otherwise unchanged from the Core Rules.
Hobgoblin Society
Groups of Hobgoblins form into clans, with a Chieftain who heads up each one. Every chieftain along with a select number of each clan meet every ten years to select the next King of All Goblins. The method of selection can vary. It must be one of the Chieftains, but aside from that, the King can be chosen through combat, deception, diplomacy, blackmail, or mutual benefit(although the latter is typically only used in times of war). The only exception is an exiled clan, known to most other races as the "Civilized Clan".
Each clan may be run as each Chieftain sees fit, and may have its own rules as to ascension to the status of Chieftain(hereditary, chosen, et cetera), but some similarities exist between all of them. The foremost is that the Chieftain has the final say in all matters within that particular clan.
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This was all helpful. Thank you all. I think I will keep the traditional races but with tweaks and all to keep them alien. This is all great data! Also it has helped me with my confidence as a GM and World Maker. I may post more things out there...more "Pimp my campaign" threads later since this one was so productive and successful.
Also...if you live in the Northern VA, DC metro area and interested in parktaking in said campaign email me at AriesOmega at gmail dot com. I am always looking to meet others.
Thanks a million.
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One of my players came up with this in one of his gamer journals. He told me to copy it for you all to read. Thus far I have translated his chicken scratch to the following:
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Cheat Sheet for Game
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All are in relation to the Principality
Elves = The High Elves are a neutral Power. They don't trust them, but trust them much more then the Unhumans. Comparable religions, Elves have better weapons, magic and tactics but field a much smaller army that has a big need for supplies for extended operations. The Wild Elves are neutral and are viewed as savages. Well armed guerilla fighting savages mind you. There is still bad blood between the Wild Elves and humans of the Principality. The humans of the barbarian lands there is no bad blood.
Dwarves = Varies from aware of but no contact to neutral to friendly. When friendly there are formal trade agreements and defensive pacts signed. Dwarves from friendly citadels come to human court events about four times a year. Twice a year dwarves host humans but never in the depths of their citadel, usually something more open and "human friendly" to "traditional dwarven". Less than friendly are contracted out for work such as mining clans, smithing clans and mercenary clans. Neutral clans tell humans go away and leave them alone and they will leave the humans alone. Occasionally they work together to fight a mutual bad thing...like a dragon about three years ago and then go back to isolationism. Their religion attempts to reconcile their differences with the one of the Principality but does so poorly. They both worship the light...just one views it as the sun as the holy light and the other the forge.
Halfling = Most are viewed like Tolkien hobbits and live like them as well as have a similar symbiotic relationship with. They are furry footed, fat and good farmers. They do however maintain a good standing militia to defend their shires for halfling and country...which is the Principality. They see themselves as citizens of the Principality, albeit in a lower station. Some are viewed as wandering, nomadic gypsy performers and roving bands of thieves. Humans see any halfling that likes to travel as a potential thief. Lastly a few rare ones live more closely with Dwarves and Elves and are views as allies with them. Their religion, culture and language are very close to the Principality.
Gnomes = Most common are the standard rock variety. They are looked at like dwarves but smaller. They have an autocratic king who does his best to keep the good side of the Principality. He is viewed as a puppet dictator by many. The gnomes are known as expert craftsman of other works. They take an item and make it better, like the Japanese with the VCR. American's invented it the Japanese made a better one. Example in game is Dwarves invented smoke powder and firearms, but gnomes make the best ones. They are treated bad compared to halflings, often having to live in their own parts of the city...a "gnome ghetto". They have accumulated much wealth over the years from their skills and in many ways the racism towards gnomes are parallel to the Jews of pre-WWII Europe. On top of everything their religion while has many similarities to the Church is often at odds with it and are viewed as very different from the Church once again like Judaism and Christianity
Half Races - Coin Toss. Think of it like Black/White mixed people in the past of America. If you can pass as human you are treated as a human if not then you are treated as an elf. Same goes for half orcs. Only place a half orc can really live among humans is among the barbarians and even then with some secrecy still is needed.
Non-Human Races: Depends on the race. Some are looked at as monsters as horrible as the allied Horde. Gnolls for example are not allied with the "Horde" but are considered Unhuman. Others who are allied with "Demi-Humans" such as Goliaths and Dwarves are tolerated. Goliaths are a nomadic people and their "nation" is a vassal state to the local dwarven citadel. Sole exception is when the Imperial humans moved into the southern swamps and marshes. They were greeted with open arms by lizard folk. This was unsettling to the Imperials who were greeted as liberators from the Yuan-ti and as brothers to the Sun/Empyrean. Many converted to the Church and actually have their own sect. The Church sect of the lizard folk is very different the others in that it is a blend of the ancestor worship, native druidism and sun worship with Church doctrines similar to real world religious syncreatic religons. Lizard Folk were instrumental in defeating Yuan-Ti in the souther regions and establishing forts in the area.
I am currently running a dark fantasy 3.5 game in which the standard races have mostly been altered in one way or another. Without going into to many details:
Elves: Primal and chaotic, of fey origin they are seen as time bombs by most of the other races as one can never know how an elf will react to a particular situation.
Dwarves: Hard and lawful (not much change) live in vast strongholds in the mountains where they produce most of the metals on the market. Insular in the extreme and constantly warring with the Orc clans.
Orcs: eliminated half orcs, used Celtic tribes as the basis for their culture.
Gnomes: Dwarves with a genetic anomaly similar to albinos in humans. Surprisingly, despite their oddity they are accepted readily into dwarven culture and even held in places of high respect; many a dwarven hold has a gnome lord.
Halflings: Vagabond nomads selling wares between remote human villages. Their old homeland has become a no-man's land between two great warring human kingdoms.
Lizardfolk: Primitive and cannibalistic they believe that the greatest honor their dead can have is to aid their loved ones as fully as possible in death. As such their homes tend to be grotesque (to outsiders) amalgamations of the bones and hides of dead lizardfolk and their best equipments and most sacred foods are made from dead relatives.
You might want to pick up the Race Creation Cookbook so you can create your own, balanced race that fits in well with the other standard SRD/OGL races.
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I hate to resurrect an old thread but I have a question for you all...especially if you know about 4E and/or Eberron and Shifters. As I mentioned in my previous posting there is racism in this game, more based on species then anything but even the "barbarian" humans are not given equal status with the "imperial" humans.
After reading about Shifters in Races of Eberron and the retconned version in PHB2 for 4th Edition and seeing that picture of them...I was thinking..."they look very human, more like barbarians". Then I was thinking..."why not have the "barbarians" that first greeted and helped the imperials be shifters rather then humans?" They looked close enough to human to pass as one in bad lighting and at a distance.