Help me to make races VERY different from each other

[William Edmunds]

I want to make the different races radically different when they take the same classes. For example, I want dwarven fighters to be very different than elven fighters. I want gnomish bards to be very different than halfling bards, and so on. I'd like ideas on how to do this. For example...

- human wizards use the vancian system, but elvf wizards use a spell point system
- elves gain bonuses to illusion and enchantment, but are restricted in their use of evocation and necromancy (or can't use them at all)
- dwarven wizards use only spells dealing with weapons, armor, stone, metal, runes, etc. But they also may wear armor and have the BAB progression of clerics
- elf fighters are more like samurai than vikings, using technique, speed, and precision rather than brute force. They use Dex for all attack bonuses instead of strength and tend to use light weapons that do less damage but allow more attacks per round.

Any ideas for me?

[Hydro]

It sounds like what you actually want, in function if not in name, is for different races to actually have access to different classes.

For instance, orkish and half-orc mages are battle sorcerers, while elves and humans use the usual sorcerer class. Orc barbarians could be standard barbarians and orc bards could be savage bards, while humans are totem barbarians and elves are bardic sages or divine bards.

Check out the Unearthed Arcana stuff from the srd and see if anything catches your eye.

You can also set racial restrictions on wizard schools, cleric domains, and sorcerer bloodlines in order to make members of those classes more racially distinct.

[SmiloDan]

Also, racial subsititution levels for the various classes might be up your alley. They have a bunch of them in the "Races of" books. They also have race specific feats.

[joela]

SmiloDan wrote:

Also, racial subsititution levels for the various classes might be up your alley. They have a bunch of them in the "Races of" books. They also have race specific feats.

What SmiloDan said. Also, check out the Racial Paragons in Unearthed Arcana.