|
I was thinking of retconning something in my homebrew campaign setting. In the setting people from one country left to the new world and met natives. The situation is very similar to early American history. I modeled most of the realations between the settlers and the natives off of this.
Now also they "Church" promotes humanity to the point that is is NOT a sin to kill a "unhuman"...which is basically things that can't pass for humans and are considered unclean and tainted, such as Goblins, Orcs and Ogres.
Elves, Dwarves and the like fall into the "demi-human" and per "Church doctrine" have a soul...but not a human one and doesn't go to the same heaven as humans. They are unclean, but not tainted.
The native human "barbarian" population that the settlers came in contact with I have not fleshed out. In fact I only speak of them but so far have never shown them. I thinking about swapping them out with Shifters after seeing the picture and description of them in the 4E PHB. That got me to reading about them in Races of Eberron and other 3E material.
What do you all think? Could shifters make a good subsitute for a "barbarian" culture?
For info on races in my campaign I discussed it earlier please visit the link below.
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/dnd/pimpMyCampaignRac eIssues
Shifter would work well, but I'd go for something even less human, like kenkus, for instance.
Go for it, good choice.
|
|
Shifter would work well, but I'd go for something even less human, like kenkus, for instance.
I thought of that...I am reserving kenkus for the mystical, far off, but never seen lands of the East. I was inspired by Tengu found in Guild Wars on that one.
Go for it, good choice.
What shifter subtypes do you think you'd find in a temperate forest type of setting? Is there information stating what kind of animal that each shifter represents such as "longtooth" being wolf based and "razorclaw" being cat based? Perhaps in one of the 3E books I missed on the first reading of the info.
So basically you're reinventing the early Mormon church, before the convenient retcon/revelation about skin pigmentation not being the "Mark of Cain"? Easy enough to come up with some twaddle about "And yea, they were cursed with bestial forms for eating the fruit of the [insert name of forbidden fruit here] tree and the flesh of the [insert name of taboo animal here]."
I'm certain the shifters have different origin myths than their ancestors eating porkchops with apple sauce, not that they likely reflect reality much either. But it works for an intolerant church.
|
|
So basically you're reinventing the early Mormon church, before the convenient retcon/revelation about skin pigmentation not being the "Mark of Cain"?
I never knew that about the Mormons. Interesting. I learned something new.
Actually I was just now thinking of further altering shifters stating that at least in my setting they are not the vile and evil product of interbreeding with lycanthropes but rather were now tainted but not corrupted humans that allied with primal spirits and now each tribe reveres a totem animal.
I'm running a similar campaign, where the humans, elves, dwarves, etc., sail across the new Crater Sea, and encounter shifters, goliaths, etc. The shifters are part of an Iroquois-like nation.
I'm a big fan of shifters. You can change their fluff just a little and have decent serpent-folk (for yuan-ti). They'd also be cool in an Egyptian-flavored world with animal-headed deities.
In my campaign, kenku, gnolls, minotaurs, and worgs think they are cursed lycanthropes, trapped in a single form. They see the shifters as semi-blessed, slightly-less-cursed brethren.
I too have been considering the use of Shifters as a stand-in for totem-worshipping native barbarians, so I figured I would chime in with some of my thoughts on the matter.
I do not think each shifter trait necessarily needs to be tied to a single totem animal, or each animal to a single trait. Many animals have both bite and claw attacks, most have natural armor, many have scent, etc. Instead of limiting totems to a single trait, choose several which all represent the qualities of the animal. Keep in mind also that Shifters can gain additional shifter traits (not the ability score bonus, but the special attacks and powers) by taking a feat. In all honesty, a bite, 2 claw attacks, natural armor, a high base speed, a climb speed, and scent sounds like a leopard or other large cat to me, and only the additional traits from Races of Eberron really expand beyond that mold.
If the idea of totem animals appeals to you, consider looking at the Totem Warrior class from Arcana Evolved as options for these shifters. Some of the abilities of the class can be redundant with certain shifter traits, but the mix of full BAB, 4+Int skills, and the ability to take on the shape of a totem animal certainly is appealing.
One of the things I am considering for my own campaigns is modifying the shifters so that they don't "shift" to gain their bestial traits temprorarily, and removing a couple things from their base stats to balance things out. I've ditched the bonus to Dex, the penalty to Charisma, and have put aside the skill bonuses for the time being, resulting in something along this line:
Mooncalf
Medium Humanoid
-2 Intelligence
Base Speed 30
low-light vision
One Bestial Trait (as shifter traits, but the stat bonus and special power are permanent)
Assuming you use Races of Eberron, there are 10 shifter traits, providing bonuses to Str, Dex, Con, or Wis depending on the type. The only one I plan on restricting is the one that gives them a fly speed. I am however, considering giving that type the ability to glide, modeled on the Dracha from Arcana Evolved.
-C. Robert Brown