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Post by The Old Ref Himself on Feb 1, 2021 23:23:05 GMT -5
What do you do with non-human PC's in your campaign so that they are not just human with funny ears and a stat adjustment? How do you make them truly non-human?
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Post by The Editor on Feb 6, 2021 2:29:20 GMT -5
What do you do with non-human PC's in your campaign so that they are not just human with funny ears and a stat adjustment? How do you make them truly non-human? I try to pick something that is really logical as a human and then come up with a reason that a demi-human would never do that and why it is not logical for them. |
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Post by The Editor on Feb 6, 2021 2:30:57 GMT -5
For instance, dwarves don't understand mercy, because early life is really tough on purpose so that the weak do not survive to pass on weakness. Dwarven childhood really is a dog eat dog world.
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Post by youngbuck on Feb 21, 2021 0:43:52 GMT -5
As an aspiring DM, I had not given this much thought. I will start paying attention to this. I don't think you can do too much about the PCs, isn't it more the province of the DM to make sure the NPCs are run more as stated?
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Post by The Old Ref Himself on Jun 2, 2021 23:48:51 GMT -5
As an aspiring DM, I had not given this much thought. I will start paying attention to this. I don't think you can do too much about the PCs, isn't it more the province of the DM to make sure the NPCs are run more as stated? Run each NPC as you designed him or her and keep them mostly true to the character you created, but allow them room to breath, grow and change. They might change alignment, might become corrupt, might go straight, make them live and breath. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 29, 2022 18:53:05 GMT -5
What do you do with non-human PC's in your campaign so that they are not just human with funny ears and a stat adjustment? How do you make them truly non-human? I try to pick something that is really logical as a human and then come up with a reason that a demi-human would never do that and why it is not logical for them. I like this a lot. Let's see... Humans compete for resources, but twainmen would never do that because their lifespans are pre-set. Hmm...maybe a thread on this sometime. |
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Post by True Black Raven on Feb 5, 2022 22:54:16 GMT -5
I try to pick something that is really logical as a human and then come up with a reason that a demi-human would never do that and why it is not logical for them. I like this a lot. Let's see... Humans compete for resources, but twainmen would never do that because their lifespans are pre-set. Hmm...maybe a thread on this sometime. How about Humans compete for mates, but Dwarfs do not as they are betrothed as children and that is also why they rarely adventure as that would leave their betrothed a widow with no children and no hope of a husband should they die. Dwarves view adventuring as the height of selfishness. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Feb 6, 2022 7:34:18 GMT -5
I like this a lot. Let's see... Humans compete for resources, but twainmen would never do that because their lifespans are pre-set. Hmm...maybe a thread on this sometime. How about Humans compete for mates, but Dwarfs do not as they are betrothed as children and that is also why they rarely adventure as that would leave their betrothed a widow with no children and no hope of a husband should they die. Dwarves view adventuring as the height of selfishness. Exalted for originality! |
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Post by True Black Raven on Feb 6, 2022 9:26:12 GMT -5
How about Humans compete for mates, but Dwarfs do not as they are betrothed as children and that is also why they rarely adventure as that would leave their betrothed a widow with no children and no hope of a husband should they die. Dwarves view adventuring as the height of selfishness. Exalted for originality! Thank you!  |
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Post by arjen on Feb 6, 2022 20:16:11 GMT -5
I try to avoid creating "cultural" cues to differentiate non-human races for "human" characters. Not to say that they won't be there but a human village in a pre-dominantly dwarven area or kingdom could share more cultural ideas with those dwarves than with human towns or kingdoms elsewhere; not to say that dwarves from that region might have more in common with dwarves from another region than humans in their own region. I like to give non-human races specific "meta"-physical differences.
In my games Elves have a vulnerability to "cold iron", cold iron weapons deal extra damage, magic circles of barriers using cold iron can bar elves and cold iron manacles can hold an elf without a chance of that elf escaping without outside help. This might be drastic but if, generally, the only elves encountered in the "human" world are those choosing to do so (adventurer elves) and the fact that most elves encountered are almost all at least 1st level wizards (being able to cast charm person or sleep) this will drive the npc's reaction ro an elf and will drive the roleplaying of the player playing an elf.
Dwarves, in my games, have a 20% of magic failing on them, this takes the form of the extra bonus to saves against magic but might also result in (non-weapon or armor) magic item not working for them or advantageous magic spells not working for them (like invisibility). I limit this to "arcane" (non-cleric) spells. This might result in causing the dwarf PC treating all arcane magic as unreliable. Another way might be to play to the idea that a dwarves vow or promise counts as a (minor) Geas; some magical/ancestral force binds a dwarves promise, causing it harm when the dwarf act in opposition to it's promise. This might be the direct result of why dwarves are slow and reluctant to trust others and give their word; they need to be sure that the recipient of their promise is worth it because it can literary kill them if it's not.
My advice would be to tie a race to a "rule" and "mechanical" condition and the roleplaying will follow it. Leave "cultural" ideas as possible differences within a race; a human PC from a remote insular region might have the idea that they are "betrothed" to another from birth and bring that to the table. Avoid the conflation of Race and Culture.
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Post by Vladimir, The Dark Prince on Feb 20, 2022 21:13:31 GMT -5
I try to avoid creating "cultural" cues to differentiate non-human races for "human" characters. Not to say that they won't be there but a human village in a pre-dominantly dwarven area or kingdom could share more cultural ideas with those dwarves than with human towns or kingdoms elsewhere; not to say that dwarves from that region might have more in common with dwarves from another region than humans in their own region. I like to give non-human races specific "meta"-physical differences. In my games Elves have a vulnerability to "cold iron", cold iron weapons deal extra damage, magic circles of barriers using cold iron can bar elves and cold iron manacles can hold an elf without a chance of that elf escaping without outside help. This might be drastic but if, generally, the only elves encountered in the "human" world are those choosing to do so (adventurer elves) and the fact that most elves encountered are almost all at least 1st level wizards (being able to cast charm person or sleep) this will drive the npc's reaction ro an elf and will drive the roleplaying of the player playing an elf. Dwarves, in my games, have a 20% of magic failing on them, this takes the form of the extra bonus to saves against magic but might also result in (non-weapon or armor) magic item not working for them or advantageous magic spells not working for them (like invisibility). I limit this to "arcane" (non-cleric) spells. This might result in causing the dwarf PC treating all arcane magic as unreliable. Another way might be to play to the idea that a dwarves vow or promise counts as a (minor) Geas; some magical/ancestral force binds a dwarves promise, causing it harm when the dwarf act in opposition to it's promise. This might be the direct result of why dwarves are slow and reluctant to trust others and give their word; they need to be sure that the recipient of their promise is worth it because it can literally kill them if it's not.My advice would be to tie a race to a "rule" and "mechanical" condition and the roleplaying will follow it. Leave "cultural" ideas as possible differences within a race; a human PC from a remote insular region might have the idea that they are "betrothed" to another from birth and bring that to the table. Avoid the conflation of Race and Culture. Now that is awesome! |
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