# The Gaming Den

Welcome to the Gaming Den.

Skip to content

## Races Re-Done

The homebrew forum

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply

- Print view

13 posts • Page 1 of 1

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

### Races Re-Done

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:31 pm

This is me playing around with races and race equivalence. How does it look?
Half-Breeds:
Alright, 'cause there are some discrepancies and alternate opinions, there are now multiple ways to do this (goddamn you, Catharz, and your valid points):
A) Mix and match. You get 1 Major ability, 3 minor abilities (for the humans, that's 1 extra skill point each), and 1 extra type of sight (DV, LLV, whatever). Have fun.
B) You can be a half-breed: Pick the major and 1 minor ability from a single race list, and then 2 minor abilities and the visual trait from another race list. You can also be a quarter-breed: Pick 1 ability for each race list, and give the visual trait from a race with a minor ability. Quarter-breeds are basically the same as (A), so half-breeds are recommended.
C) Use pregenerated races. Who knows, maybe your DM believes that LLV is a dominant trait and that secret-door-searching is recessive. There will be pregenerated half-breeds soon.
OH! FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING! Half-breeds of the Planeborn are called Planetouched X (Planetouched elf, planetouched dwarf, etc), and half-breeds of Deathborn are Deathtouched just as Dragonborn half-breeds are Dragontouched. Did you see wat I did thar?
HUMANS: Common + 1
Med
Major: 1 Feat
Minor: 3 skill points
ELVES: Common + Elven
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: +2 Spot/Listen, no sleep (4 hour trance), detect secret doors
LLV
DWARVES: Common + Dwarven
Med
Major: +2 Con
Minor: +2 v. spells, stonecunning (including appraise bullshit), dwarven build (+2 v. poison and +4 v. bullrush and trip)
DV
ORCS: Common + Orcish
Med
Major: +2 Str
Minor: (+2 Str, -2 Int), Orcish metabolish (+2 v. poison & disease, immunity to ingested poisons), +2 Athletics/Survival
DV
HALFLINGS: Common + Halfling
Sml
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: +1 to all saves, +2 Athletics/Move Silently, something
GNOMES: Common + Gnomish
Sml
Major: Basic access to either the shadow or deception sphere
Minor: (+2 Con, -2 Str), illusion affinity (+2 v. illusions, +1 when using illusions), +2 Listen/Craft
LLV
HOBGOBLINS: Common + Goblin
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: (+2 Con, -2 Cha/Per), +4 Move Silently, something
DV
GOBLINS: Common + Goblin
Sml
Major: Mounted Combat feat (when not a half-breed, +2 to Ride as well)
Minor: +2 Ride/Move Silently, +10 ft speed, (+2 Dex, -2 Str)
DV
PLANEBORN: Common + 1 plane language (Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal, Modron, Giant Frog, auran, aquan, ignan, terran)
Med
Major: +2 to any stat
Minor: (+2 to stat, -2 to stat), lvl 1 SLA 1/day, +2 to two skills... honestly, this one varies wildly.
DV
DEATHBORN: Common + 1
Med
Major: +2 to any stat
Minor: no sleep (4 hours inactivity), 25% chance to ignore crits & precision damage, no eating necessary
DV
DRAGONBORN:
Med
Major: +2 Con
Minor: Dunno...
PREGENERATED HALF-BREEDS
HALF-ELF (Human/Elf): Common + Elven
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: no sleep (4 hour trance), 2 skill points
LLV
HALF-DWARF (Human/Dwarf): Common + Dwarven
Med
Major: +2 Con
Minor: +2 v. spells, 2 skill points
DV
HALF-ORC (Human/Orc): Common + Orcish
Med
Major: +2 Str
Minor: Orcish metabolish, 2 skill points
DV
QUARTERLING/HALF-HALFLING/STRONGHEART HALFING (Human/Halfing): Common + Halfling
Sml
Major: 1 feat
Minor: 1 skill point, +2 athletics/move silently, something
HALF-GNOME (Human/Gnome): Common + Gnomish
Sml
Major: Basic access to the Shadow or Deception Sphere
Minor: 2 skill points, illusion affinity
LLV
HALF-HOB (Human/Hobgoblin): Common + Goblin
Med
Major: 1 feat
Minor: 1 skill points, +4 Move Silently, (+2 Con, -2 Cha/Per)
DV
HALF-GOBLIN (Human/Goblin): Common + Goblin
Sml
Major: 1 feat
Minor: +2 Ride/Move Silently, +10 ft. speed, 1 skill point
DV
PLANETOUCHED HUMAN (Human/Planeborn): Common + [1 language of the Planes]
Med
Major: 1 feat
Minor: (+2 stat, -2 stat), 1 skill point, lvl 1 SLA 1/day
DV
DEATHTOUCHED HUMAN (Human/Deathborn): Common + 1
Med
Major: +2 stat
Minor: no sleep (4 hours inactivity), 2 skill points
DV
DRAGONTOUCHED HUMAN (Dragon/Dragonborn): Common + Draconic
Med
Major: +2 Con
Minor: ...dunno...
ELVISH VARIANTS:
HIGH ELF: Common + Elvish
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: +2 Spot/Listen, no sleep (4 hour trance), detect secret doors
LLV
DARK ELF (DROW): Common + Undercommon
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: (+60' DV, Light Sensitivity), no sleep (4 hour trance), deeper darkness and faerie fire once per day
DV
AQUATIC ELVES: Common + Aquan
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: Aquatic (breathe water, 40 ft swim speed, drown in air), no sleep (4 hour trance), +2 Spot/Listen
LLV x2
GRAY ELVES: Common + Elvish
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: (+2 Int, -2 Str), no sleep (4 hour trance), detect secret doors
LLV
WILD AND WOOD ELVES: Common + Elvish
Med
Major: +2 Dex
Minor: (+2 Str, -2 Int), +2 Spot/Listen, no sleep (4 hour trance)
LLV
SUN ELVES: Common + Elvish
Med
Major: +2 Int
Minor: +2 Spot/Listen, detect secret doors, no sleep (4 hour trance)
LLV
STAR ELVES: Common + Elvish
Med
Major: Otherwordly Touch (look it up. p11 here),
Minor: (+2 Cha/Wil, -2 Con), no sleep (4 hour trance), detect secret doors
LLV
NOTE: Sun Elves are Outsider (Elf, Extraplanar)
Last edited by For Valor on Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:32 pm, edited 5 times in total.

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top

Maxus
  Overlord
  Posts: 7645
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Maxus » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:39 pm

Well, I would argue half-dwarves could get a +2 Str. Why? They're combining the dense muscle of a dwarf with human leverage. Look up the chart--the average dwarf is, like, a foot shorter than a human. But at the same time, a nice chunk heavier. Dwarves are solid, man.
But mix-and-matching does have the benefit of being simple.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Top

CatharzGodfoot
  King
  Posts: 5668
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
  Location: North Carolina

###

- Quote

Post by CatharzGodfoot » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:12 pm

I'm a bit confused on how this mix & match works. You example 1/3 elf 1/3 dwarf 1/3 tiefling seems to have the elf major ability, one elf minor ability, two tiefling minor abilities, one dwarf minor ability, and darkvision which may have come from tiefling or dwarf.
Can I play a 1/4 gnome 1/4 human 1/4 goblin 1/4 planeborn with minor access to Shadow, +3 skill points per level, +10 to speed, +2 Int/-2 Wis, identify 1/day, medium size, low light vision, and darkvision?
Questions of how it works aside, with this system there's never a reason to play a member of a specific race. Every character will be some kind of species mish-mash designed to Min/Max her abilities.
What does it even mean to be a lizardman kobold dragonborn / deathborn / planeborn? What do you eat? You might as well throw away the concept of 'race' for a min/max point buy list and tell people that they can look however they want.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
Top

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

###

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:02 am

The breakdown is:
1 Major Ability
3 Minor Abilities
1 extra type of sight (maybe)
You do whatever you want when you mix-match. I suppose you could put a cap on that somehow, but I'm not going to. And yeah, I accidently added in one extra minor ability. Changing that now.
So that answers your question about the 1/4 nonsense. You've picking up to 5 special abilites. One must be major, one must be minor, and you only get 1 extra type of sight.
Yes, there almost IS never a reason to play a member of a specific race. However, some DM's call the optimizing that race-mixing entails bullshit and will get all up in your grill about it.
I'll do something about the mixed breeds clause.
On eating:
dragonborns eat whatever dragonborns eat (RotD). Planeborns eat whatever demons, celestials, elementals, and the planetouched eat. Deathborn eat what zombies eat... namely, brains.
And yes, the system could basically be a point-buy. But what I've given here is a concrete way of saying "OK, you're an elf. Take abilities A, B, C, D, and E." That way the player feels like they've been given a definite race. Some people could give a damn about what they're named, but others like to be able to write "Wild Elf" on their char sheet under "names".
@Maxus: Well, I suppose that's true. However, there could be a similar argument for -2 strength. Human weight with the dwarf's size.

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top

Koumei
  Serious Badass
  Posts: 13796
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
  Location: South Ausfailia

###

- Quote

Post by Koumei » Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:31 am

> Maxus wrote:Dwarves are fat, man.

Fixed

> Count Arioch the 28th wrote:There is NOTHING better than lesbians. Lesbians make everything better.

Top

PhaedrusXY
  Journeyman
  Posts: 130
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by PhaedrusXY » Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:25 pm

> Koumei wrote:

> > Maxus wrote:Dwarves are fat, man.

> Fixed

No they're not! They're just big boned!
Top

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

###

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:50 pm

> PhaedrusXY wrote:

> > Koumei wrote:

> > > Maxus wrote:Dwarves are fat, man.

> > Fixed

> No they're not! They're just big boned!

aw, man, look what you've done to poor gimli.

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top

CatharzGodfoot
  King
  Posts: 5668
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
  Location: North Carolina

###

- Quote

Post by CatharzGodfoot » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:02 pm

> For Valor wrote:On eating:
> dragonborns eat whatever dragonborns eat (RotD). Planeborns eat whatever demons, celestials, elementals, and the planetouched eat. Deathborn eat what zombies eat... namely, brains.

K, but what do dragonborn/planeborn/deathborn eat? Raw invisible stalker brains?
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
Top

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

###

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:31 pm

Races of the Dragon says nothing about what Dragonborn eat, so I'm gonna say that they eat like regular humans and all.
Planeborn eat what outsiders eat. I have no idea how that works, but I really don't care.
Deathborn are zombies. They don't need to eat. Hell, I'll make that their last minor ability.
Moral of the story: I really could give a damn.

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top

Prak
  Serious Badass
  Posts: 17329
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Prak » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:39 pm

Dragonborn isn't really a true breeding race, it's a magical dragon-spunk infusion process or something, giving you an over coat of scales (I don't recall if you keep your original race traits, though I personally think you should...) hence why female dragonborns tend to have tits. They just magic dragon-spunk scales on them like a second suit. I imagine they eat whatever they ate as their original race.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.

> Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.

> FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
> You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.

Top

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

###

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:45 pm

In RotD, they make you lose all your racial traits other than penalties (daylight sensitivity) and stat mods, actually. And then they give you some benefits, based on what you pick--breath weapon, flight, or sight ability bullshit.

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top

Kaelik
  ArchDemon of Rage
  Posts: 14491
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Kaelik » Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:30 pm

> For Valor wrote:In RotD, they make you lose all your racial traits other than penalties (daylight sensitivity) and stat mods, actually. And then they give you some benefits, based on what you pick--breath weapon, flight, or sight ability bullshit.

No, they don't make you keep penalties. Daylight sensitivity goes away.

> DSMatticus wrote:Kaelik gonna kaelik. Whatcha gonna do?

The U.S. isn't a democracy and if you think it is, you are a rube.
That's libertarians for you - anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.
Top

For Valor
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 529
  Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 pm

###

- Quote

Post by For Valor » Fri Jul 30, 2010 2:42 am

Are you sure? Checking now...

> Mask wrote:And for the love of all that is good and unholy, just get a fucking hippogrif mount and pretend its a flying worg.

Top
Post Reply

- Print view

Display:
Sort by:
Direction:

13 posts • Page 1 of 1

Return to “It's My Own Invention...”

Jump to

- Main
- ↳ About the Gaming Den
- ↳ In My Humble Opinion...
- ↳ I Gave the Mouse a Cookie...
- ↳ In The Trenches
- ↳ It's My Own Invention...
- ↳ MPSIMS