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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Jun 14, 2017 13:57:41 GMT -5
I thought I would post a bit about the player character races for your perusal.
Dwarves: They average about four and a half feet tall and they are extremely stocky and muscular. They have the greatest endurance and stamina of any race. They are very strong and much more nimble than one would suspect. They have a high-level of magic resistance, they note slanting passages, traps, shifting walls, and new construction in underground settings. They reach young adulthood at about 80 years old and live up to about 800 or so.
Their body tissues are extremely dense and hard and at 80 years old they have a natural armor class of 4. By the time they reach 100 years old this has increased to armor class 3, 150 years old armor class 2, 200 years old armor class 1 and 250 years old armor class 0. However, it is impossible for dwarves to swim and they will not float under any circumstances without magical assistance. Adventurers are uncommon.
Elves: They average about five feet tall and are of a thin and willowy musculature. They are far stronger than they look and are extremely quick and agile. Elves are superior bowman. Elves may function as fighting men and magic users simultaneously. All elves automatically gain +4 on their armor class and may never wear armor greater than Leather or they may wear elven made Chainmail, they will never wear plate armor under any circumstances. Elves are more able to note secret and hidden doors.
Elves are immortal unless they die of violence and they are not subject to disease. They are considered to be young adults at 500 years old, although physically mature by the age of 20 they are considered children up to the age of 500 by which time they have learned the elven way. Adventurers are uncommon.
Hobbits - no one in my campaigns has ever played a hobbit.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 19, 2017 11:20:11 GMT -5
I thought I would post a bit about the player character races for your perusal. Dwarves: They average about four and a half feet tall and they are extremely stocky and muscular. They have the greatest endurance and stamina of any race. They are very strong and much more nimble than one would suspect. They have a high-level of magic resistance, they note slanting passages, traps, shifting walls, and new construction in underground settings. They reach young adulthood at about 80 years old and live up to about 800 or so. Their body tissues are extremely dense and hard and at 80 years old they have a natural armor class of 4. By the time they reach 100 years old this has increased to armor class 3, 150 years old armor class 2, 200 years old armor class 1 and 250 years old armor class 0. However, it is impossible for dwarves to swim and they will not float under any circumstances without magical assistance. Adventurers are uncommon. Elves: They average about five feet tall and are of a thin and willowy musculature. They are far stronger than they look and are extremely quick and agile. Elves are superior bowman. Elves may function as fighting men and magic users simultaneously. All elves automatically gain +4 on their armor class and may never wear armor greater than Leather or they may wear elven made Chainmail, they will never wear plate armor under any circumstances. Elves are more able to note secret and hidden doors. Elves are immortal unless they die of violence and they are not subject to disease. They are considered to be young adults at 500 years old, although physically mature by the age of 20 they are considered children up to the age of 500 by which time they have learned the elven way. Adventurers are uncommon. Hobbits - no one in my campaigns has ever played a hobbit. Do you have more to tell, I like this take you have on things! |
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Post by hengest on Jul 17, 2017 9:34:40 GMT -5
Doesn't break or willfully go against the "basic" version of these races, but is somewhat different, simple, and clear. I like it.
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Post by scottanderson on Jul 17, 2017 15:21:08 GMT -5
Dwarves are an underground people consumed by Wealth and Order.
Elves are a sylvan people, consumed by Beauty.
Hobbits are tiny country folk consumed by Comfort and Family.
Men, of course, are consumed by Ambition.
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jeff
Wanderer
Posts: 24 
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Post by jeff on Jul 27, 2017 14:40:22 GMT -5
The mechanical benefits are hard to look past. Why wouldn't I start my dwarf at age 250 years old? I still have 550 years of adventuring in me!!!
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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Jul 27, 2017 15:20:48 GMT -5
The mechanical benefits are hard to look past. Why wouldn't I start my dwarf at age 250 years old? I still have 550 years of adventuring in me!!! Because new characters (for dwarves) start at 80 years old + or - 5 years. If you want to be 250 years old - that is playing through 170 years of game time. It is possible, but I have not had any active PC's make it that far yet. It would have been grand had OD&D been around when I was a 18 year old - if so I would have 62 years of reffing under my belt(instead of 43) and perhaps a player in 62 real years would have make it to 250 or maybe even 500 years old during that time span. So far since 1974 we have played through about 400 years of game time. Who knows maybe I'll play another 20 years.  |
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jeff
Wanderer
Posts: 24
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Post by jeff on Jul 27, 2017 15:30:09 GMT -5
The mechanical benefits are hard to look past. Why wouldn't I start my dwarf at age 250 years old? I still have 550 years of adventuring in me!!! Because new characters (for dwarves) start at 80 years old + or - 5 years. If you want to be 250 years old - that is playing through 170 years of game time. It is possible, but I have not had any active PC's make it that far yet. It would have been grand had OD&D been around when I was a 18 year old - if so I would have 62 years of reffing under my belt(instead of 43) and perhaps a player in 62 real years would have make it to 250 or maybe even 500 years old during that time span. So far since 1974 we have played through about 400 years of game time. Who knows maybe I'll play another 20 years. Do you enforce level limits? |
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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Jul 27, 2017 15:50:07 GMT -5
Because new characters (for dwarves) start at 80 years old + or - 5 years. If you want to be 250 years old - that is playing through 170 years of game time. It is possible, but I have not had any active PC's make it that far yet. It would have been grand had OD&D been around when I was a 18 year old - if so I would have 62 years of reffing under my belt(instead of 43) and perhaps a player in 62 real years would have make it to 250 or maybe even 500 years old during that time span. So far since 1974 we have played through about 400 years of game time. Who knows maybe I'll play another 20 years. Do you enforce level limits? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that levels between races do not match up one to one and my players are more about accumulating wealth, prestige, power and influence, than about levels. That is to say that there is no direct comparison between a 4th level dwarf and a 4th level human. Dwarves require a lot more experience to level up than a human, but when they level up it is a greater increase than a level for a human. A 6th level dwarf is roughly equivalent to a 10th level human. On the other hand dwarves cannot float and crossing water is hazardous to them. A 4 and 1/2 foot tall 6th level dwarven fighter weighs in at about 450 lbs and if they are crossing a river that does not have a rock bottom it is difficult to keep them from sinking into the river bottom. Magic is required to keep them afloat and dwarves won't venture into a boat without it. That is just a little bit of it. An 8 foot tall 1000 lb ogre and a 4th level dwarf are an even match. |
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jeff
Wanderer
Posts: 24
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Post by jeff on Jul 27, 2017 15:52:13 GMT -5
Do you enforce level limits? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that levels between races do not match up one to one and my players are more about accumulating wealth, prestige, power and influence, than about levels. That is to say that there is no direct comparison between a 4th level dwarf and a 4th level human. Dwarves require a lot more experience to level up than a human, but when they level up it is a greater increase than a level for a human. A 6th level dwarf is roughly equivalent to a 10th level human. On the other hand dwarves cannot float and crossing water is hazardous to them. A 4 and 1/2 foot tall 6th level dwarven fighter weighs in at about 450 lbs and if they are crossing a river that does not have a rock bottom it is difficult to keep them from sinking into the river bottom. Magic is required to keep them afloat and dwarves won't venture into a boat without it. That is just a little bit of it. An 8 foot tall 1000 lb ogre and a 4th level dwarf are an even match. Well, that's certainly interested. Thanks for sharing. I'd play in your world!  |
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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Jul 27, 2017 16:04:25 GMT -5
You are welcome and would be welcome!
For instance elves are immortal unless killed by violence and that is why elven PC's are a rarity among elves. Stay at home likely live for thousands of years or go adventuring and miss out on all it means to be elven. While in theory an elven PC could play through a 1000 years of game time, in practicality we have been playing 43 years and only are at around 400 years. My players play a PC through at most maybe 20-25 years of game time and retire and only do domain stuff with those characters and run other younger PC's for adventure. I hope to post in the future about the circumnavigation of the world thing my players have been doing (it is the exception to the 20-25 years of game time that usually occurs).
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Post by docsammy on Jul 27, 2017 20:29:06 GMT -5
In my campaign setting that I am building, only Humans are playable. Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and the like do exist but are relatively rare compared to humans, and reserved for encounters and specialized, specific NPC's.
However, I do have separate human cultures and nationalities. While these cultures and nations have no mechanical effect on Human PC's, they do add flavor to the fluff of the setting. My setting is heavily inspired by Arthurian Legend and Sub-Roman Britain/Dark Ages Europe, with some Sengoku Era Japanese elements thrown in as well.
These are the playable cultures for human PC's, with their real-life inspirations in parentheses.
Imperials (Roman Empire)
Pretanians (Romano-British)
Anglians (Anglo-Saxons)
Wild Folk (Picts)
Milesians (Gaels)
Northmen (Norse)
Yamato (Feudal Japan)
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jeff
Wanderer
Posts: 24
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Post by jeff on Jul 28, 2017 19:21:36 GMT -5
In my campaign setting that I am building, only Humans are playable. Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and the like do exist but are relatively rare compared to humans, and reserved for encounters and specialized, specific NPC's. However, I do have separate human cultures and nationalities. While these cultures and nations have no mechanical effect on Human PC's, they do add flavor to the fluff of the setting. My setting is heavily inspired by Arthurian Legend and Sub-Roman Britain/Dark Ages Europe, with some Sengoku Era Japanese elements thrown in as well. These are the playable cultures for human PC's, with their real-life inspirations in parentheses. Imperials (Roman Empire) Pretanians (Romano-British) Anglians (Anglo-Saxons) Wild Folk (Picts) Milesians (Gaels) Northmen (Norse) Yamato (Feudal Japan) That's similar to my thinking. I want to put together a world with dwarves, gnomes, and elves, but they are only playable by PLAYERS who have encountered the race in their habitat. I may use hobbits. I may also stab myself in the eye with a pitchfork one day, but it's unlikely. Not impossible though. |
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Post by docsammy on Jul 28, 2017 20:32:18 GMT -5
In my campaign setting that I am building, only Humans are playable. Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and the like do exist but are relatively rare compared to humans, and reserved for encounters and specialized, specific NPC's. However, I do have separate human cultures and nationalities. While these cultures and nations have no mechanical effect on Human PC's, they do add flavor to the fluff of the setting. My setting is heavily inspired by Arthurian Legend and Sub-Roman Britain/Dark Ages Europe, with some Sengoku Era Japanese elements thrown in as well. These are the playable cultures for human PC's, with their real-life inspirations in parentheses. Imperials (Roman Empire) Pretanians (Romano-British) Anglians (Anglo-Saxons) Wild Folk (Picts) Milesians (Gaels) Northmen (Norse) Yamato (Feudal Japan) That's similar to my thinking. I want to put together a world with dwarves, gnomes, and elves, but they are only playable by PLAYERS who have encountered the race in their habitat. I may use hobbits. I may also stab myself in the eye with a pitchfork one day, but it's unlikely. Not impossible though. I'm glad you like my idea. I have no problem with playable dwarves, elves, or even hobbits in a game of OD&D as a concept. But it really depends on the campaign setting in question. In most campaign settings I come up with, humans are the only playable race while non-human races are present but either reserved for rare NPC's, encounters, or both. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Jul 28, 2017 23:05:53 GMT -5
My most current campaign uses humans, lizard-folk, insectoid folk and aliens.
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Post by docsammy on Jul 28, 2017 23:21:30 GMT -5
My most current campaign uses humans, lizard-folk, insectoid folk and aliens. Sounds interesting. I presume that this is for a Sci-Fi campaign setting? One of the main reasons I generally limit PC options to humans only in my campaign settings is because a lot of my campaign settings I come up with are derived from history and historical fiction, whether it be direct historical fantasy (such as the Colonial-themed setting of The New World, set in 17th Century Virginia but with magic and some monsters) or fantasy settings heavily inspired and influenced by history (such as the Arthurian-themed Chainmail Hearts, which is set in a fictional world based off of Sub-Roman and Late Medieval Britain, with some elements derived from anime and samurai fiction) |
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Post by Admin Pete on Jul 28, 2017 23:45:52 GMT -5
My most current campaign uses humans, lizard-folk, insectoid folk and aliens. Sounds interesting. I presume that this is for a Sci-Fi campaign setting? One of the main reasons I generally limit PC options to humans only in my campaign settings is because a lot of my campaign settings I come up with are derived from history and historical fiction, whether it be direct historical fantasy (such as the Colonial-themed setting of The New World, set in 17th Century Virginia but with magic and some monsters) or fantasy settings heavily inspired and influenced by history (such as the Arthurian-themed Chainmail Hearts, which is set in a fictional world based off of Sub-Roman and Late Medieval Britain, with some elements derived from anime and samurai fiction) No, just an OD&D campaign, not Sci-Fi as such, semi-medieval, magic, ancient ruins, multiple apocalypses over 100's of thousands of years, alien ship crashed and they have prospered and claimed an area for their own and are accepted as much as anyone else. The world is huge many times the size of earth and widely separated continents have different occupants. Go here for a tiny sample Ruins of Murkhill Campaign. |
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Post by docsammy on Jul 29, 2017 1:53:12 GMT -5
Sounds interesting. I presume that this is for a Sci-Fi campaign setting? One of the main reasons I generally limit PC options to humans only in my campaign settings is because a lot of my campaign settings I come up with are derived from history and historical fiction, whether it be direct historical fantasy (such as the Colonial-themed setting of The New World, set in 17th Century Virginia but with magic and some monsters) or fantasy settings heavily inspired and influenced by history (such as the Arthurian-themed Chainmail Hearts, which is set in a fictional world based off of Sub-Roman and Late Medieval Britain, with some elements derived from anime and samurai fiction) No, just an OD&D campaign, not Sci-Fi as such, semi-medieval, magic, ancient ruins, multiple apocalypses over 100's of thousands of years, alien ship crashed and they have prospered and claimed an area for their own and are accepted as much as anyone else. The world is huge many times the size of earth and widely separated continents have different occupants. Go here for a tiny sample Ruins of Murkhill Campaign. Ah, I see. I'll check it out. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Jul 29, 2017 6:36:51 GMT -5
No, just an OD&D campaign, not Sci-Fi as such, semi-medieval, magic, ancient ruins, multiple apocalypses over 100's of thousands of years, alien ship crashed and they have prospered and claimed an area for their own and are accepted as much as anyone else. The world is huge many times the size of earth and widely separated continents have different occupants. Go here for a tiny sample Ruins of Murkhill Campaign. Ah, I see. I'll check it out. The main section applies to all of the world, and the reboot section is where the aliens come in, they are only on the one continent. |
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Post by LouGoncey on Jul 30, 2017 17:31:00 GMT -5
In the campaign I am currently laying the groundwork for, the demi-human races go like this. Dwarves are mud and earth come to life. There are no females. When a dwarf feels his death coming on, he molds a small dwarf replica out of mud and clay -- his dying breathe gives this replica life. Elves are just elves (100,000 years ago they came from another dimension, but this is forgotten). Hobbits turned into cursed black hobbits over 1,000 years ago ( a touch of T&T ). The Elves are slowly under going a similar disease, turning them into blood raging red Elves.
oh the Elves bleed green...
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Post by scottanderson on Jul 30, 2017 19:33:34 GMT -5
oh the Elves bleed green... Seems logical. |
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Post by randyb on Jul 31, 2017 8:34:44 GMT -5
oh the Elves bleed green... Seems logical. Fascinating... |
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Post by LouGoncey on Jul 31, 2017 14:58:03 GMT -5
And the next show in The Gold Room is at 10:00 and it is completely different then the 7:30 show.... |
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FaerieGodfather
Wanderer
Returned Home. Still returning to Humanity.
Posts: 46
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Post by FaerieGodfather on Aug 6, 2017 17:33:47 GMT -5
Galactic Dragons uses some of the standard D&D races, plus a handful of others.
I get the most crap for my elves, mostly on account of their physical design. They are very much like standard D&D elves, short and slimmer than humanity with larger eyes and pointed ears, but elves in Galactic Dragons also have antennae growing from their foreheads, and long tails as in Danish folklore. Elves are consumed by reckless bravado, and unlike the other races that grow out of it as they mature, elves grow into it... elves never die of old age, but rarely live to see their second century. Those that do are terrifyingly confident and justifiably so.
Elves are known for being the least religious race in the galaxy, because there are no living elf gods for them to worship. The last known elf deity ascended only a couple of centuries ago, after conquering one of the smaller and lesser-known Hells and declaring herself Queen.
That Hell no longer exists.
My dwarves, on the other hand, hew fairly close to their Tolkien roots. They're just over five feet tall at the tallest, weigh nearly three hundred pounds, and male and female alike have thick beards. They're hard as the mountain stone, driven by greed and pride and duty to toil and craft and trade. Dwarves, even in their own homes, put on their armor when they wake up in the morning and only remove it before entering the bedroom or the bath. Dwarves are reputed to be the greatest crafters and the shrewdest traders in the galaxy, and they are renowned for their sense of honor-- for good and for ill. The only thing more dangerous than cheating a dwarf is accusing him of cheating you. There's a saying about dwarven honor in the human empire I can't name yet: "An elf will repay his debts when he feels like it, and a goblin only repays his debts when it is in his own interests. A sauren will even lay down his life to repay his debts. Only a dwarf will dig himself out of his own grave to settle up."
It's not a metaphor. If a dwarven community even suspects that a dead dwarf was indebted, the body is cremated. This dishonor is considered a small price to pay.
The main difference, and the one that seems to break the teeth of many D&D fans, is that dwarf clans are both polygynous and matriarchal. Dwarves have three words for "wife": the first refers to a man's oldest wife, the matriarch of his clan. The second refers to those wives old enough to be his mother or grandmother, and the third refers to those wives roughly his own age or younger. The important thing to remember is that all three outrank him.
My gnomes are much like the less-awful, non-Krynn versions of gnomes, except they physically resemble oortlings or the fraal from Alternity. Gnomes are natural spellcasters, even moreso than elves, with an emphasis on divination, illusion, and necromancy. They've taken some of the design space from halflings, notably their insatiable curiosity and utter fearlessness. They are not, however, idiot children who compulsively act without considering the consequences. Gnomes are peerless explorers and academics and scientists. Gnomes are treated with suspicion by other races because of their uncanny ability to simply know things which nobody is supposed to know.
There are a handful of other playable races. Not sure which ones are going in the core.
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FaerieGodfather
Wanderer
Returned Home. Still returning to Humanity.
Posts: 46
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Post by FaerieGodfather on Aug 6, 2017 17:40:16 GMT -5
I have artwork for some of those races, but I can't get it to work here. Does DeviantArt not allow image hosting?
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 7, 2017 8:31:25 GMT -5
Galactic Dragons uses some of the standard D&D races, plus a handful of others. I don't have any problem with anything you have here, I think I will stea errrr borrow some of it. What don't you start another thread and tell us about Galactic Dragons. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 7, 2017 8:31:49 GMT -5
I have artwork for some of those races, but I can't get it to work here. Does DeviantArt not allow image hosting? Hopefully someone else will look in on this. |
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Feb 7, 2018 3:04:52 GMT -5
You can link an image from deviant art, I tried to directly post one from my DeviantArt but it didn't work.
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Feb 7, 2018 3:08:59 GMT -5
I have a lot of races in my Arcanepunk setting (the World of Skârn) I need to revise & re-stat for OD&D or B/X. In my Grim Dark setting I plan to develop I'll stick with the default races as I will with the fused campaign if i follow through on that one.
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