|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It might depend on what I'm running but in a standard D&D/Pathfinder I'd go.
Humans
Dwarves
Gnomes
Elves
Halflings
No more than two hybrids of some sort i.e. any plane touched, changeling, half races or whatever.
The only rule would be you could walk into a human city and pass as human with only a little work.
No feathered, scaled, or furries in this campaign, but perhaps this would be required in the next game.
Considered banning elves but allowing half elves with understanding that your average elf is like the sidhe i.e. powerful, alien and scary and averaging around 10th level.
Most of all NO DROW. Hate them as a pc race. Might consider them in an underdark campaign but even then I might instead just designate them the bad guy race. Probably reason I'm not running an underdark game and have no interest in playing in one.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Most of all NO DROW. Hate them as a pc race. Might consider them in an underdark campaign but even then I might instead just designate them the bad guy race. Probably reason I'm not running an underdark game and have no interest in playing in one.
But bro, I have this awesome idea for a drow character. He's trying to escape the prejudice against his race because he's a good person. He's also a TWF ranger and...
I can see this isn't swaying you. No worries, I also had an idea for a sociopath assassin...
My pick
- Human
- Dwarf
- Elf
- Gnome
- Half-Elf
- Aasimar
- Tiefling
Kobold, Orc and the 4 elemental races will be near the list, but not inside.
A thought has just occurred to me guys, none of the core races (or any playable races that I know of) are large characters only medium and small. Also, the vast majority of the races are humanoid or (native) outsider with the ghoran and wyrwood being the only exceptions (plant and construct respectively). What's your thoughts and have any of you seen/heard of races that ARE large or any other non small/medium size and that are not humanoid/outsider?Centaur (large monstrous humanoid)
Trox (large monstrous humanoid)
Ignoring the problems of getting large races to follow along in the same tight dungeons as medium characters (At least during the early levels, where big enemies aren't that common, and as such the dungeons aren't built for them to get around), there is a problem with how powerful large size is.
There is a reason why one of the default assumptions for 'higher CR melee threat' tends to be 'bigger'. A larger size, particularly on humanoid shaped creatures (which would count as 'tall' rather than 'long' for the relevant tables) gain a lot of reach as they increase in size. Just large alone allows you to become a 30' circle of pain (10' on each side, 10' in the center), and you would cover all of that area.
Having a race that can do that would pretty much invalidate a reach build for any medium race balance wise, since they cover a smaller 25' circle and have to jump through hoops if they want to threaten inside the circle while the large creature could just use a 3d6 greatsword to do the same thing. And if a large creature grabbed a reach weapon, they would make a 50' circle of threatened range. Such a creature could full attack creatures 25' away from them if they had a reach weapon and took a 5' step. (admittedly, due to how large reach weapons work, they cannot attack adjacent opponents, at least medium sized ones, without moving 10', unlike with medium reach users; still, just regular weapon builds for large match and outclass medium reach builds)
And even if you used a centaur or drider, which use weapons like they are medium characters, they would still have impressive reach just because they take up a 10' wide square rather than a 5' one.
1. andriods
2. aaimars
3. orcs
4. elves
5. dwarves
6. halflings
7. samsaran
Humans, dwarves, elves, orcs, gnomes, aasimar/tieflings (as variants of the same race), and dragonkin.
Everyone likes playing monsters (Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs). I say any race that starts out in a Monster Manual shouldn't be one of the CORE races. I'm happy with the current races.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Should've posted this with my post yesterday. The races for my next campaign: Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, Kokiri, Sheikah, Gerudo, and possibly Twili. Legend of Zelda campaign. :D
Everyone likes playing monsters (Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs). I say any race that starts out in a Monster Manual shouldn't be one of the CORE races. I'm happy with the current races.
Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Halfling were all in the 3.5 Monster Manual too.
Everyone likes playing monsters (Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs). I say any race that starts out in a Monster Manual shouldn't be one of the CORE races. I'm happy with the current races.Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Halfling were all in the 3.5 Monster Manual too.
Humans were once as well in earlier editions. So basically you can't play any race under those rules. :P
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Really I wouldn't include Gnomes in any campaign I run and couldn't play one in someone else's campaign. More than any other race in the core, they lend themselves to a particular character archetype. The racial abilities and bonuses seem to favor the Illusionist Prankster which is usually run very poorly and it gives me headaches. The Illusionist Prankster should play like Loki but most people think it should be more like the GM on the D&D cartoon show.
Other races have classes they are more suited towards as well but they also have more alternate racial traits to allow for them to be other classes. The Gnome's allow them to specialize in other magic schools but that's not really enough for a core race. Changelings, Kitsune, and the Ratfolk also only lend themselves well to a few classes and I love all those races. Even putting aside my irrational hatred of Gnomes, they should be a featured race instead of a core race for this reason.
I also wouldn't put the Dwarf on their but that's more to due with the fact that they are boring even on Golarion. The fluff and racial traits do nothing to get them away from Tolkien's "fine craftsmen in the mountain halls." I like Harsk a lot but he's noted for being unlike most dwarves and he has to purposefully ignore a lot of his racial traits.
I don't mind the half-races as much as some on this thread do. They have a type generally and they can play against it if they want. A half-orc is usually a social outcast barbarian but they can be a well-liked wizard, no problem. I love play against type and the Half races allow that better than any other in my opinion.
All that said, My core 7 are:
1. Human (duh)
2. Elf
3. Half-Elf
4. Half-Orc
5. Halfling
6. Aasimar
7. Tiefling
I pick them because of their versatility rather than how much I like them. I like the Sylph but I can admit it shouldn't be a core race, for example. Aasimar and Tiefling are a little stereotypical given their huge popularity but they can be fun in a large variety of roles.
If you have to have another small race to replace the Gnome, then I guess Goblin could work but they can use a variant with less stat penalties.
|
A campaign using only Golarion-specific races could be funky.
Android
Gillmen
Monkey Goblin
Strix
Suli
Tengu
Vishkanya
Changeling
plus some combination of;
Wayang
Kitsune
Nagaji
Ifrit
Oread
Sylph
Undine
Vanara
Fetchling
Dhampir
Skinwalker
Ghoran
Lashunta
Or a 'humanoid' type setting, where the 'core races' are;
Goblin
Kobold
Hobgoblin
Orc
and 1 racial HD versions of;
Bugbear
Dark Creeper
Gnoll
Lizardfolk
Their foes would be evil expansionist empires of humans, savage alien elves who raid civilized 'humanoid' lands from their twisted forests, and underdark-dwelling dwarves with their genocidal wars to cleanse the world of orcs and goblinoids.
|
|
Most of all NO DROW. Hate them as a pc race. Might consider them in an underdark campaign but even then I might instead just designate them the bad guy race. Probably reason I'm not running an underdark game and have no interest in playing in one.But bro, I have this awesome idea for a drow character. He's trying to escape the prejudice against his race because he's a good person. He's also a TWF ranger and...
I can see this isn't swaying you. No worries, I also had an idea for a sociopath assassin...
As long as your sociopathic assasin is not in my good campaign sond good. Would fit right in with my "scum and villiany" game.
ONe of the best game I ever ran as a child was the "when the elves are dead" where tolkienesque evil had apparently won and proof of that was the recent extinction of the elves who were servants of the big good.
Most of the characters were half elves trying to remain hidden/not dead and eventually lead a countercoup.
I kept working on my list until I realized what I was circling around ... Eberron.
So ... Eberron is my answer. :/
|
Most of all NO DROW. Hate them as a pc race. Might consider them in an underdark campaign but even then I might instead just designate them the bad guy race. Probably reason I'm not running an underdark game and have no interest in playing in one.But bro, I have this awesome idea for a drow character. He's trying to escape the prejudice against his race because he's a good person. He's also a TWF ranger and...
I can see this isn't swaying you. No worries, I also had an idea for a sociopath assassin...
As long as your sociopathic assasin is not in my good campaign sond good. Would fit right in with my "scum and villiany" game.
ONe of the best game I ever ran as a child was the "when the elves are dead" where tolkienesque evil had apparently won and proof of that was the recent extinction of the elves who were servants of the big good.
Most of the characters were half elves trying to remain hidden/not dead and eventually lead a countercoup.
Personally, I HATE Drow, no matter what the setting or campaign. The whole "good light elves are turned into dark skinned evil variants for having stained souls" just makes me feel icky. It's just too close to the 'Curse of Ham' justification slavers used to use for their treatment of blacks.
I know that wasn't the intention when the race was made, I know that wasn't the intention Paizo had when they made their own lore. But it still rubs me the wrong way.
From here the decisions become more difficult because I basically covered my common core races. These three would be uncommon races.
The core races as is are fine, except for Gnomes.
I hate Gnomes. I've never seen any variant of Gnomes that I've ever liked.
I'd probably exchange them for Warforged or some psionic race (like DSP's Maenad or Elan).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Gnomes are to blame for the bad economy.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Most of all NO DROW. Hate them as a pc race. Might consider them in an underdark campaign but even then I might instead just designate them the bad guy race. Probably reason I'm not running an underdark game and have no interest in playing in one.But bro, I have this awesome idea for a drow character. He's trying to escape the prejudice against his race because he's a good person. He's also a TWF ranger and...
I can see this isn't swaying you. No worries, I also had an idea for a sociopath assassin...
As long as your sociopathic assasin is not in my good campaign sond good. Would fit right in with my "scum and villiany" game.
ONe of the best game I ever ran as a child was the "when the elves are dead" where tolkienesque evil had apparently won and proof of that was the recent extinction of the elves who were servants of the big good.
Most of the characters were half elves trying to remain hidden/not dead and eventually lead a countercoup.
Personally, I HATE Drow, no matter what the setting or campaign. The whole "good light elves are turned into dark skinned evil variants for having stained souls" just makes me feel icky. It's just too close to the 'Curse of Ham' justification slavers used to use for their treatment of blacks.
I know that wasn't the intention when the race was made, I know that wasn't the intention Paizo had when they made their own lore. But it still rubs me the wrong way.
I like to rewrite drow as outcasts from the First World (or equivalent fey paradise) due to a drow noble's gift to an ungrateful Unseelie lord. As a cruel final touch, the drow were dropped directly into the underdark/darklands/etc. and had always been dark blue/purple. As their connection to the First World faded, insanity kicked in and now we have bat s$+$ crazy drow.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Personally, I HATE Drow, no matter what the setting or campaign. The whole "good light elves are turned into dark skinned evil variants for having stained souls" just makes me feel icky. It's just too close to the 'Curse of Ham' justification slavers used to use for their treatment of blacks.I know that wasn't the intention when the race was made, I know that wasn't the intention Paizo had when they made their own lore. But it still rubs me the wrong way.
I like to rewrite drow as outcasts from the First World (or equivalent fey paradise) due to a drow noble's gift to an ungrateful Unseelie lord. As a cruel final touch, the drow were dropped directly into the underdark/darklands/etc. and had always been dark blue/purple. As their connection to the First World faded, insanity kicked in and now we have bat s~+& crazy drow.
Personally, I like the idea of Mikaze's take on the drow/elf situation in setting in the post on her 'Monster Orphanages' thread.
Looking at the addendums in the spoilers, she painted a dark picture where the Lantern Bearers made sure that a dirty little secret hidden underground remained that way. This helps to deepen the troubling nature of how the drow were the elves that DIDN'T abandon Golarion during Starfall.
Personally, I HATE Drow, no matter what the setting or campaign. The whole "good light elves are turned into dark skinned evil variants for having stained souls" just makes me feel icky. It's just too close to the 'Curse of Ham' justification slavers used to use for their treatment of blacks.I know that wasn't the intention when the race was made, I know that wasn't the intention Paizo had when they made their own lore. But it still rubs me the wrong way.
I like to rewrite drow as outcasts from the First World (or equivalent fey paradise) due to a drow noble's gift to an ungrateful Unseelie lord. As a cruel final touch, the drow were dropped directly into the underdark/darklands/etc. and had always been dark blue/purple. As their connection to the First World faded, insanity kicked in and now we have bat s~+& crazy drow.
Personally, I like the idea of Mikaze's take on the drow/elf situation in setting in the post on her 'Monster Orphanages' thread.
Looking at the addendums in the spoilers, she painted a dark picture where the Lantern Bearers made sure that a dirty little secret hidden underground remained that way. This helps to deepen the troubling nature of how the drow were the elves that DIDN'T abandon Golarion during Starfall.
I might have to borrow that if I include elves in the next Golarion visit.
Human, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Half-Giant (or Goliath), Wolfen (Palladium), Planetouched
Drop elves and half elves.
Add in Vanara and Catfolk.
If psionic stuff was allowed I'd be highly tempted for half - giants and blues.
Oh man, i really like rat folk too.....
A friend of mine came up with an idea for 3.5 that any half-race would actually be represented by a feat. So humans would be the most common "other half" of the half-race as they have that extra feat to burn. I like that idea.
That would leave:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Halflings (gnomes could be made with a half-fey feat)
Lizardfolk
maybe a feline race - I don't like the implementation of Catfolk though.
A Large race - maybe Centaur (or maybe just have a half-giant feat)
Personally I would like to see a fantasy world without humans, because let's face it: it isn't Earth. There's no need for there to be humans. But I doubt that such a world would ever get published.
I don't think I would be satisfied with a world with only seven playable races though. In my mind any race that gets 0 racial HD should be a playable race, and on top of that I feel that a lot of races should have been built that way (like Gnolls and Lizardfolk) but the 3.5 designers were a bit lazy in that regard and most of those monsters got simply copied over to PF.
Peet
|
|
I might have to borrow that if I include elves in the next Golarion visit.
Personally, I HATE Drow, no matter what the setting or campaign. The whole "good light elves are turned into dark skinned evil variants for having stained souls" just makes me feel icky. It's just too close to the 'Curse of Ham' justification slavers used to use for their treatment of blacks.I know that wasn't the intention when the race was made, I know that wasn't the intention Paizo had when they made their own lore. But it still rubs me the wrong way.
I like to rewrite drow as outcasts from the First World (or equivalent fey paradise) due to a drow noble's gift to an ungrateful Unseelie lord. As a cruel final touch, the drow were dropped directly into the underdark/darklands/etc. and had always been dark blue/purple. As their connection to the First World faded, insanity kicked in and now we have bat s~+& crazy drow.
Personally, I like the idea of Mikaze's take on the drow/elf situation in setting in the post on her 'Monster Orphanages' thread.
Looking at the addendums in the spoilers, she painted a dark picture where the Lantern Bearers made sure that a dirty little secret hidden underground remained that way. This helps to deepen the troubling nature of how the drow were the elves that DIDN'T abandon Golarion during Starfall.
Ditto. This may have just rescued Drow from the Scrappy Heap for me.
I actually don't have a huge insistence upon particular races being core as long as their cultures and other parts of their backstories are well fleshed out and things aren't too horribly broken mechanically. Going beyond this, I would say the same thing about the other races, of which we seem to have a profusion, but with only a subset being well fleshed out (rather than introduce new ones, I'd like to see the existing ones fleshed out). I do tend to gravitate towards the existing ones just because of familiarity, which comes in part from how well they are fleshed out, with part of this being due to gaming world traditions that are not only from Paizo.
That said, what I'd like to see is a framework on which to build said fleshing out. Have not only the cultural aspects well developed, but also add a family tree that describes how they came to be through some combination of evolution and genetic engineering (for examples see below). In other words, take a scientific approach. (This works best for a post-modern fantasy setting, where people have been removed from Earth and been deprived of most of their technology, and then got access to magic and such so they did not get most of their original technology back when recovering; but it could be made to work fine with a parallel or near-parallel setting like Golarion.)
The more common races would belong to either (or in some cases both) of 2 genetic subgroups: Homo sapiens-derived and Homo neanderthalis/heidelbergensis-derived, which are then further sub-divided. Sub-races count as their associated race, with alternate traits applied, except that the alternate traits can also alter more radical things such as Size and Ability adjustments.
Homo sapiens-derived = "True Humanoid"
Humans (the least modified Homo sapiens)
Halflings (actually Humans that have gone through evolution and/or genetic engineering to be smaller -- they are a sub-race instead of a separate race)
Gillmen and Fetchlings (it is already established in Pathfinder lore that both of these are modified Humans -- just make them Humans with some of the more extreme alternate race traits)
Related prominent non-core races: most Giants were engineered from Humans.
Elves (ELF originally = Enhanced Life Form or Engineered Life Form, although by the present time of the campaign setting, the great majority of people don't know that; their "fey" connection is actually a reflection of this genetic engineering)
Dark Elves/Drow (actually not a separate race from Elves, but one or more sub-races thereof, but not as different as either would have you believe, since 1: the "normal" elves are always scheming against each other too, just usually with less overt violence; and 2: in regions away from the familiar ones, such as parts of Arcadia in Golarion that are just a LITTLE bit deeper than commonly known exploration has gone, surface-dwelling dark elves can be found whose culture is quite different from both familiar elves and "familiar" drow)
Gnomes (actually related to Elves similarly to the way Halfings are related to Humans, but scholars debate about whether Elves were directly modified from Humans and then Gnomes modified from Elves, or whether Gnomes were modified from Halflings, and then upward-resized and engineered for even greater longevity to become Elves)
Trolls (WarCraft universe-inspired rather than directly Tolkein/D&D-inspired -- "Someone told you I if I cut off this hand it will grow back? Don't believe everything you hear! No way am I sticking my hand in there . . ."; these Trolls are genetically "True Humanoid", but the overwhelming majority of them are culturally "Goblinoid"; telling Elves or Trolls that they are actually closely related to each other is not usually a good idea for one's health)
Related prominent non-core races: Giant Trolls (of the type described in D&D/Pathfinder: larger, more brutish Trolls were engineered from core Trolls in the same way as most Giants were genetically engineered from Humans)
Homo neanderthalis/heidelbergensis-derived = "Goblinoid" (but don't tell that to a Dwarf)
Dwarves (the least modified Homo neanderthalis/heidelbergensis; despite being genetically "Goblinoid", they are culturally "True Humanoid", and trying to tell most of them that they are genetically "Goblinoid" is a sure way to get into a fight)
Duergar (not actually a different race from Dwarves, but rather a sub-race that has a known common cultural ancestry but has since undergone cultural divergence; Golarion and pre-D&D lore already have this relation, and even Dwarves and Duergar admit to this relation)
"True Gobliooids" = Hobgoblins, Bugbears, and Goblins (these have all gone through enough genetic engineering and/or evolution to count as genetically different from Dwarves/Duergar; Goblins have additionally undergone reduction in size, like Halflings from Humans, but with additional mouth/dental modification)
Related prominent non-core races: Hill Giants and Fire Giants were engineered from Dwarves or ancestors thereof.
Combination of the above
Orcs (normally "True Humanoids" and "Goblinoids" don't interbreed very well, and the few resulting hybrids are ALMOST sterile (like mules), but at some point in the distant past, somebody managed to generate hybrids and get enough together to generate second-generation hybrids that eventually bred true, and Orcs were the result; Orcs count as both "True Humanoid" and "Goblinoid", and can interbreed freely with both "True Humanoids" and "Goblinoids" even though these 2 types of Humanoids are very impaired with respect to interbreeding directly with each other; this result of "True Humanoids" and "Goblinoids" interbreeding also discourages "True Humanoids" and "Dwarves" from interbreeding, because on the rare occasion that an offspring results, it is physically VERY much like an Orc)
Various other "Half" races (not actual separate races, but a partial conversion template that is added to any of the above races)
Other
Animal-folk/Mongrels, Changelings/Witchbloods, Dhampirs, Elemental-touched, some types of Fey, Harpies/Sirens, Outer Plane-touched, and possibly other non-core "races" (these are modified versions of any race resulting from mobile genetic elements or curses having an epigenetic effect, and thus are not separate races, but instead templates that can be applied to any race, thus making their characteristics depend partly upon their parent core race as well as upon whatever supplied them with their mobile genetic element or other source of exotic characteristics)
I went into this with no intention of limiting the total number of core races to 7, but since several of what I put above are really sub-races, the number of actual separate core races is not very great -- actually only 5, with the rest being sub-races or templates. Counting above, while treating sub-races as not different races (even though they may be culturally separate), and ignoring the templates (including "Half" races) and those explicitly listed as non-core, I have Human/Halfling, Elf/Dark Elf/Drow/Gnome, Troll (of the non-Giant type), Dwarf/Duergar, Hobgoblin/Bugbear/Goblin, and Orc (which earned itself status as a separate race even though it was originally a "Half" race, thanks to evolving to breed true -- persistence pays off). That is 6 core races. This leaves room to add 1 more core races, that is not necessarily closely related to the above -- Kobold-lovers, knock yourself out.
Who says science can't be good for fantasy?
I actually ran a campaign using this mix of seven, the results were entertaining (to me at least)
Human (buffed)
Gnome (buffed)
Samsaran
Merfolk
Ogre (debuffed)
Redcap (race builder custom job)
Sidhe (race builder custom job)
Every race worked out to either 15 or 16 points in race builder and there was no consensus choice. We had 3 humans, 2 sidhe, 2 ogres, 2 merfolk and a gnome, with plans for a redcap and a samsaran if more PC deaths had occurred.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
1 Ratfolk
2 Human
3 Ratfolk
4 Dwarf
5 Ratfolk
6 Half-ork
7 Ratfolk
|
Humans because... well, look in a mirror someday. I don't think there's an RPG that doesn't default to "You're a human unless the rules say or let you say otherwise."
Dwarves, but as I flavor them in my mind, they're everybody's favorite plate mail-clad four foot tall Irish/Scottish/pirate-accented* perpetually drunk deranged lunatics with a (warhammer, war axe, urgrosh, crossbow) and a "Yar har har, c'mon lad let's set our hair on fire!!! Har ho hee har har!!" attitude.
*I'm kinda guilty of actually changing dwarven accents mid-sentence.
Elves, because you can't have manic-depressive midget alcoholics without their taller, pointy-eared, more uptight brethren. Elves, as far as this post and the setting I'm working on are concerned, are divvied up into three different subraces:
Summer Court elves (summer elves, or sun elves) are the bog-standard vanilla elf in your Core Rulebook.
Winter Court elves (winter elves, or snow elves) are the arctic elves from the Advanced Race Guide. They are the sworn rivals of summer elves, and tend towards psicraft as opposed to magic.
Autumn Court elves (autumn elves, or wood elves) are the more martial cousins of elves, maintaining their strict neutrality between elvenkind. I'd say they'd be the savage elves from the Advanced Race Guide, except with Silent Hunter instead of Eternal Grudge.
Tieflings, 'cause aasimar are stppd. (Plus, I'd like to think angels have better things to do than spend time knocking boots with humans.)
Goblins, 'cause I love acting as these little dumbasses, even if it tends to go against my "You must be this tall to join the party" mindset.
I like weird races that dont have as much historical bagage and assumptions, and races often described as 'evil' but could be presented as neutral or even good from a non-human centric point of view. My list would be something like
Kitsune
Catfolk
Wayang
Tengu
Kobold (using the rules for Koldemar by Rogue genius games putting them on a level playing field with the pc races)
Orcs
Goblins
|
|
(Everything I wrote three posts ago.)Pretty much the same save I'd replace Elves with Ellori, and Goblins with the wretched gnomes of Arcanis, the cursed result of dwarven/human matings. And I'd ditch tie flings along with asimar. Core defines what is "common" in a world and plane-touched should not be common.
Hey, it's common in the world I'm working on! XD
(Then again, I would love the official race rules of a d20-derived game to say "You know what? Write it in the blank on your character sheet. 'Human,' 'Autumn Elf,' 'Dragonborn,' 'Hobbit... err, Halfling,' 'Four Foot Tall Manic Depressive Alcoholic Dwarf,' that's perfectly fine. 'Tiefling With Leather Pants and E-Cups Barely Held Back With Studded Leather Bikini Top' or 'Supercalifragilistic Xtreme Dwarf-Forged Sentinel EX Ultra El Mutilatador Bloodsoaked Skull-Caving-In Bodyguard Fueled on the SOULS OF THE THRICE-DAAAAAMNED and Royal Game of Ur-Playing Robot?' Write *real* small.")
Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Warforged, Goblin, Orc
Those are the 7 races I would like to see as core personally. Then make flavors such as the different types of elves, dwarves.
Elemental and tiefling/aasimar for humans, the reasoning for humans only being that human heritage wont predominate Angelic/demonic/elemental influence like the other races.
|
|
Just to make my actual list:
Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes, and Gnomes.
What, I can't do that? Fine I'll play by the rules.
Dwarves - Dwarves are sort of on here as the least-bad of "Races I Don't Care For". (The worst I can say? Every dwarf I've ever encountered was played exactly the same. Left a bad taste in my mouth.) Most of the extra races are elemental or planar - which, as many others have said, should really be an applied template. The remaining ones are 90% anthro and I HATE anthro.
Elves - I've always enjoyed elves, and they offer so much mechanically that it's not hard to justify keeping them.
Gnomes - I love Gnomes. They're different from any other race and get some boons that are flavorful without being gamebreaking. 3.5 Gnomes? Meh. Pathfinder Gnomes? Friggin' awesome.
Goblins - Replaces halflings as the other small race. I always feel like Halflings and Gnomes are too similar, and I just don't care for halflings - they have the same problem as the Summoner for me: They never seem to fit ANYWHERE in the provided world. Apparently they're there to remind us this is based on Tolkien. Goblins are fun, over the top, and make way better halflings than halflings.
Hobgoblins - Replaces half-orcs. I despise "half"-anything races. The only reason I've ever seen anybody take one is for the weapon proficiencies or broken alternative FCBs. Also half-orcs encourage way too much "Rape as Backstory", another thing that sticks in my craw. I prefer hobgoblins as the outsider, semi-monstrous go-to race.
Humans - To provide a baseline. We are human, having humans gives us a reference point to understand how the other races relate to us. They need a nerf, but that's a different topic. (I felt like a Bonus feat and extra skill point were good enough boons - did they really need the floating +2???)
Kobolds - Replaces half-elves. With a stat boost, preferably. Really play up the difference between kobolds and goblins here - possibly giving them a CHA or INT boon to reflect their draconic heritage and intricate knowledge of engineering. Also rounds out the list a little more to have 3 small races vs 3 medium races vs 1 in between (Dwarves are sorta smallish-medium).
|
|
Humans: Because why not? Yes, I personally hate playing as humans, but I admit they're necessary.
Ratfolk: Also because why not, but for the exact opposite reasons as above. Because I like them even though I know they're unnecessary. That, and Halflings weird me out.
Kitsune: Rather than gnomes, I'd take the enchantment-based tricksters as opposed to illusion-based prankers. It's...basically just aesthetics at this point.
Dwarves: Because c'mon. The Hobbit was cool.
Elves: The fey-folk that aren't completely crazy and seem to evoke the old lords and ladies of the sidthe feel? Sign me up.
Kobolds: As opposed to Half-Orcs, I'd prefer them as a race for the sole purpose that they seem like neat little buggers. I just wish their stats weren't so awful.
Tieflings: Why not the other guys? Meh. Rather than half-elves, I'd pick Tieflings, mainly because I think Tieflings are awesome-looking, and because of all of the different varities of "extraplanar half-mortal" breeds, they seem the most reasonable. Angels tend to interbreed with mortals in most myths once every 10,000 years, and I've never even heard of genie-born outside of Paizo. But demon-tainted children? They may as well be standardized.
{. . .}
Ratfolk: Also because why not, but for the exact opposite reasons as above. Because I like them even though I know they're unnecessary. That, and Halflings weird me out.
{. . .}
Dwarves: Because c'mon. The Hobbit was cool.
Wait . . . The Hobbit was cool, but Halflings weird you out? How is that supposed to work? (And Hobbits are even alternatively labeled Halflings in some parts of Tolkein's books.)
{. . .}
Ratfolk: Also because why not, but for the exact opposite reasons as above. Because I like them even though I know they're unnecessary. That, and Halflings weird me out.
{. . .}
Dwarves: Because c'mon. The Hobbit was cool.
Wait . . . The Hobbit was cool, but Halflings weird you out? How is that supposed to work? (And Hobbits are even alternatively labeled Halflings in some parts of Tolkein's books.)
You must admit, the ratio of attention is rather weighted towards the dwarves in that, if only for the sheer sake of numbers. Dwarves come off more like compacted men than the underfoot nuisances that hobbits present.
A large part of their role in Tolkien's works is how much they SHOULDN'T matter in the events that unfold (that doesn't mean they don't actually matter, but being small and not getting the redeeming stoutness of dwarves makes them take on an exaggerated 'everyman' role, where the people who actually do things are 'giants among men'). The reason the ring was entrusted to a hobbit is because he not have the grand hidden desires and power to back them up that you would see in Gandalf or that scary/inhumanly 'fair' elf lady. The best a hobbit could think of is ferreting it away and staring at it forever.
Dwarves, meanwhile, always seem to have something outside of the Shire. They have ancient clans and histories, and feuds, and rivalries, and epic quests and destinies and what not.
Humans: Because humans are human, Humanly.
Dwarf: I like dwarves. They're dwarfy.
Orc: Because you need one guy to fill the big dumb brute role to a tee, and this is it. Would probably change the stat penalties to -2 Int/Cha.
Aasimar: Flavor-wise, I like them as a half-breed. It makes more sense that magical creatures can crossbreed with humans because they're magic, rather than because humans apparently have super sperm and eggs that mix with everything for some reason. Mechanically, you can fill a lot of class concepts with Aasimar.
Tiefling: Ditto above.
Dhampir: Ditto as well, plus I like the half-undead feel of them as a "monstrous" race.
Samsaran: Fills the highly intelligent, spellcaster oriented race archetype awesomely, and just have a cool background. They also fill the "nearly immortal" archetype as well, without the nature and/or extremely haughty/proud baggage Elves carry.
{. . .}
Ratfolk: Also because why not, but for the exact opposite reasons as above. Because I like them even though I know they're unnecessary. That, and Halflings weird me out.
{. . .}
Dwarves: Because c'mon. The Hobbit was cool.
Wait . . . The Hobbit was cool, but Halflings weird you out? How is that supposed to work? (And Hobbits are even alternatively labeled Halflings in some parts of Tolkein's books.)
You must admit, the ratio of attention is rather weighted towards the dwarves in that, if only for the sheer sake of numbers. Dwarves come off more like compacted men than the underfoot nuisances that hobbits present.
{. . .}
I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (and the Silmarillion, as well, although Hobbits don't make much of an appearance in there), and Bilbo and Frodo (and Samwise) didn't come off as underfoot nuisances to me, except from the point of view of the forces of evil (and temporarily to Thorin). They were village schmoes trying to earn their place in a world that was suddenly scrambled for them.
|
|
Assuming we're going for a 'generic' fantasy world / game:
1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Dwarves
4. Gnomes
5. Orcs
6. Aasimar
7. Tieflings
Halflings nearly make it in, but I consider the three new additions more key/interesting and have run out of slots.
That's just for a generic fantasy world, though. I'd probably be selecting setting-specific races most of the time and would probably tend towards ending up with some highly-weird list that includes few, if any, of the above.
|
|
I'm an old-school D&D fan when it comes to races. My homebrew world still has mountain dwarves and hill dwarves, rock gnomes and forest gnomes, lots of different types of elves, etc. I always thought it was weird that in most campaign settings there are dozens of human languages, but no matter where you go in the world dwarves all speak dwarven, elves elves, etc. Why aren't there dozens of different elf languages too? I've also considered simplifying the other way and having humans all speak human.
For a generic core rulebook of races, I would go with only four: humans, elves, dwarves and gnomes. Then have a long list of alternate racial traits for each, like are in the apg and arg. Also have a choice between three different ability modifiers (so like for elves you could chose between +2dex+2int -2con, +2dex +2cha -2str, or +2str +2cha -2int). I would prefer race being more of a cosmetic choice and less of a mechanical one. Each race should offer decent choices to be able to build a martial, arcane, or divine character.
1)Catfolk
2)Lashunta
3)Aasimar
4)Tiefling
5)Fey Race or Fey Touched Race
6)Ghoran(or plant race of my own creation)
7)Human
If you can have more then 7 core then..
8)Android
9)Dhampir
10)Sylph
11)Undine
12)Oread
13)Ifrit
14)Grippli
15)Nagaji
16)Merfolk(modified were they gain legs when dry)
17)Kitsune
18)Gnome
19)Elf
20)Dwarf
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For designing a world that actually makes sense there should not be more sapient species than biomes. Based on the only model we have for sapience (and the one every customer will be comparing to when judging whether or not behavior is actually intelligent) sophonts do not tolerate competition. Look at what we did to the megafauna and they weren't even competing for the same ecological niche, just dangerous. {. . .}
Humans do indeed try to exterminate or enslave everything else. From what I've read of Golarion lore, they tried to do this there (even trying to do this to Elves before the fall of the Starstone). But being inclined to do something does not guarantee success; in Golarion, Humans just did not succeed in the genocide that they intended. Note that in some regions (especially Cheliax) they DID succeed in the goal of enslaving Halflings.
Anyway, the upshot is that multiple sapient species are possible, although the coexistence would be tense.
Underdark cannot conventionally support sapients. Big brains are expensive and there just isn't enough energy in the system. Magic could be used as an excuse, but cthonians would be too alien to use as anything but monsters due to different senses and different means of sustenance leading to wildly different psychology. If they evolved the latest common ancestor with surface life would be extremophile bacteria. Think abominations not humanoids with different skin color.
Aboleth are indeed Aberrations, and they may have evolved in, if not the Underdark, at least some environment that let them feel reasonably at home there. The Humanoids (with different skin color or not) were probably not native there (and this is documented in the case of Drow). The average population density would need to be low because of the energy problem you noted (although conceivably dense cities could survive as long as they farm and/or cave fish large areas to keep the average density low). Intelligent creatures that evolved in such an environment would probably be ectothermic to be better able to run their big brains without consuming so much energy; Aboleths probably work this way, although I haven't seen anything one way or the other about this in the information about them. Vitamin D is a problem that hasn't gotten enough mention (although see here for a counterexample); Underdark dwellers would need to get it from surface food (only practical in the upper Underdark), get by without it (maybe cave fish do this?; probably Aboleths do this), or find a way to synthesize it, or at least harvest food that does (maybe that is what the underground luminescent fungi are for -- maybe the bioluminescence powers Vitamin D synthesis, but some of the light escapes -- normally selected against, but then Humanoids that actually like to have a little bit of light selectively breed the fungi in favor of more light release, and keep them well fed with lower value substances).
The oceans are not a useful biome. Intelligences of crustacean or cephalopod derivation are possible. Maybe even bottom feeding vertebrates could develop arms. The whale path may also be possible, though a homonid gone the whale route would be nothing like traditional merfolk. Truly aquatic sophonts cannot operate in other biomes at all, making them useless as adventurers and difficult to use as NPCs. Seal-like sophonts could possibly be adventurers, but need to reproduce on land and therefore cannot coexist before cosmopolitanism takes hold, by which point it is too late.
Sounds from the above that the oceans are potentially useful, and in terms of food supply for big brains, the near shore parts are definitely useful (and big-brained cetaceans can be found elsewhere as well). Hominid derivatives would not be able to evolve into something like Merfolk, but conceivably very advanced genetic negineering technology could accomplish something like this, as well as derivatives that retain more of their original Humanoid shape but nevertheless are aquatic. For allowing them to operate in other biomes: That is what the Amphibious SQ is for (although for Merfolk, their extremely slow land speed would tend to keep them from making much use of it, even with the Strongtail alternate racial trait).
If humans exist they dominate all terrestrial biomes as on Earth. It might be possible to do race variants.
Again, this is just a problem of making sure that they don't succeed (and making sure that everybody else also doesn't succeed) in this goal.
If humans don't exist I'm not sure what a plains sophont would look like. If we go for six limbed vertebrates the centaur is an option. Actually, let's do that. Having six limbed vertebrates allows the traditional western dragon and several of the chimeric monsters to exist. {. . .}
Problem with that is that if the Centauroids have the same attitude as Humans, they will try to exterminate or enslave everything. So you are back to the problem of keeping them from succeeding at this objective, same as for Humans.
Anyway, again: Who says science has to be bad for fantasy?