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Post by Daos on Oct 8, 2011 15:28:26 GMT -8
First, I'm uploading the map again. I made a few minor changes. I made one of the islands an atoll, and greened up some of the small, barren ones. So our next topic of discussion is human geography, which refers to the races we'll be using. In the old Octhania, humans, halflings and gnomes were the dominant races. There were also orcs, lizardmen, ogres, and a number of marine races. Elves, half-elves and dwarves were supposed to be very rare. This time around, I want to make sure there are sufficient groups of all of the core races, at least. Orcs, lizardmen and ogres can still be around, but I'm thinking they'll be in smaller numbers (because those can be found anywhere), and instead we'll put more emphasis on the marine races, like mermen, tritons, sahuagin, and so forth. Humans are plentiful, naturally. They can fit in just about anywhere. Halflings make good smugglers, so I suspect they'll find lots of not-so-honest work. But I'm sure there are more honest ones, too. Gnomes...ehhh, not sure yet. Dwarves...well, it's possible there are clans of dwarves living in the mountainous areas, but...how did they get there in the first place? I kind of like the idea of surface dwarves. If a dwarf is banished to the surface, some make their way here in hopes of getting in on the profit to be had. In fact, that nebulous trade guild idea could possibly be run by the surface dwarves. They're trying to impose their idea or order on these chaotic islands. As for elves, well...I thought about using sea elves, but what's the point? There are plenty of marine races that can fill in their niche, including selkies, tritons, and mermen. I think we'll just go with regular elves, and perhaps they are the swashbuckling type--they see all of this piracy and crime in a romantic light, and are attracted by it. Those are just some basic ideas, though. What do you two think? Attachments:
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Post by HorizonsDream on Oct 8, 2011 18:20:00 GMT -8
Sounds good to me. Does that mean that the marine races will be playable?
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Post by Daos on Oct 8, 2011 18:43:23 GMT -8
That's something else we can discuss. And I suppose it would depend. Some are harder to translate into PC races than others. Merman, for instance, would make poor PCs unless we were running a game that took place under the sea.
The intelligent marine races are:
Crabmen Dolphins Nereids Marids Reef Giants Water Imps Water Genasi Ixitxachitl Kuo-Toa Locathah Seawolves Mermen Merrow Sahuagin Selkies Sirines Sea Sprites Swanmays Takos Tritons Scrags
Whew. Did I miss any?
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Post by HorizonsDream on Oct 9, 2011 18:32:30 GMT -8
I don't even know what some of those are. I figure some of those unpopulated islands you plan on having can have a few of these races on them.
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Post by Daos on Oct 9, 2011 19:35:20 GMT -8
D'oh!
Actually, most of these races live in the seas themselves, not on islands. Let's see.
Crabmen Pretty self-explanatory. They're crab people, crab people. Tastes like crab, walks like people. They're a simple, primitive people that hunt and gather in tribes on coastal shores. So they could populate some of those barren islands. Also, they are reportedly delicious. Not sure anyone would want to play one, though.
Dolphins We all know what dolphins are. They're intelligent (11-12 INT), but are unable to speak Common and can't go up on land, so they're not really viable as PC races.
Nereids Nereids are creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water. They appear as beautiful women who lure sailors to their doom. Their power comes from their magical shawls. If their shawl is taken from them, they will be servants to whoever possesses it. If the shawl is destroyed, they die. This makes them poor choices for PCs.
Marids They're basically water genies from the Elemental Plane of Water. Way, way too powerful to be PCs.
Reef Giants Giants. Of the sea. But because they are 16 feet tall, it would make it difficult for them to join a party of M and S sized characters.
Water Imps (Mephits) You should know what these are, as we've encountered them before in FW1 and FW2. Creatures of the Plane of Water, they are known for being mischievous and adventurous. One could possibly be a PC, if we can negate their ability to Gate in others of their kind.
Water Genasi A genasi is anyone with both mortal and elemental blood. These actually are a PC race, as detailed in the Planewalker's Handbook.
Ixitxachitl Evil manta rays. Not making this up. Obviously, wouldn't make very good PCs unless we were in an underwater campaign.
Kuo-Toa Evil, subterranean fish men who hate the surface and the light. I suppose one could be a PC, but it would take a hell of a good reason to explain it, backstory wise.
Locathah Fish people. But unlike the Kuo-Toa or Sahuagin, they are neutral, not evil. Not great for PCs, because while they can exist on land, they absolutely hate it and will do anything to avoid it.
Seawolves Evil lycanthropes that can turn into well...see the pic above. One could be a PC, but it would have to be evil. Unless it was only afflicted, and not a true lycanthrope.
Mermen You know these well. Problem with them being PCs, of course, is that they have no legs.
Merrow Merrow are sea ogres. Wait, according to this, they only live in fresh water. Oops. Well, cross them off the list then.
Sahuagin You should remember these blighters well, we encountered a lot of them in DDO. They're basically the Orcs of the sea. They could be a playable race, conceivably.
Selkies They're humans who can change into seals. The problem with them as PCs, is they can take human form only one week out of each month.
Sirines Beautiful humanoids with enchanting voices that are deadly to sailors. One could conceivably be a PC.
Sea Sprites Sprites of the sea. Sea sprites can turn invisible at will and detect good/evil within 50 yards. Three times per day, a sea sprite may cast slow, by touch, at the 5th level of ability. Once per day, a sea sprite can cast airy water as a 10th-level spellcaster. These powers might make them a bit too strong for a PC race. Then again, they're also only 1 foot tall.
Swanmays Swanmays are actually humans who are part of a secret society of rangers and druids who have the ability to shapeshift into swans. I'm not sure why they are considered a race of their own. But, the rules to turn one into a PC are all ready in the Complete Book of Humanoids.
Takos The tako are a race of intelligent octopi who can move onto land and use weapons and other tools. I guess one could be a PC, if someone was up to it.
Tritons Tritons are humanoids of good alignment from the Plane of Water. The lower half of a triton ends in two finned legs, while its torso, head, and arms are handsomely human. Tritons have a silvery skin that fades into silver-blue scales on the lower half of their bodies. Their hair is deep blue or blue-green. I can't see any reason they can't be PC races, and in fact, could easily replace sea elves' role.
Scrags Saltwater trolls. They work just like regular trolls, but can only regenerate when submerged in salt water. Kind of too powerful to be PC races, though.
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Airellian
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Post by Airellian on Oct 10, 2011 10:11:34 GMT -8
None of the additional races beyond the core ones look like they would be very good PCs. Perhaps good antagonists, but that's about it.
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Post by Daos on Oct 10, 2011 13:40:48 GMT -8
A couple might, but overall, I agree. Most of these races are just ill-suited to be PC races, unless we were doing an underwater campaign.
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Airellian
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Post by Airellian on Oct 10, 2011 14:31:32 GMT -8
Could we do some original races?
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Post by Daos on Oct 10, 2011 14:52:49 GMT -8
Possibly. Did you have some in mind?
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Airellian
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Post by Airellian on Oct 10, 2011 15:40:56 GMT -8
I recall reading a race called "swashbuckling sparrowfolk". They weren't quite like normal sparrows, in that they had their own civilization, wielded tiny rapiers, and wore tiny little caps. While on their islands, they could summon up a swarm of fellows to harass any invaders.
Perhaps trolls might be viable, if they possessed little to no regeneration ability. It might be worth tweaking with it. They should probably be land-based, rather than their cousins, the scrags.
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Post by Daos on Oct 11, 2011 16:21:23 GMT -8
Swashbuckling Sparrows? Do they ask where all the rum has gone and constantly insist you call them 'captain'? ;D
They would be size category T, I suppose? Sounds like they'd have poor HP and even worse damage output, but maybe really good AC. Which might make them better at spellcasting than swashbuckling.
Regeneration is the main identifier of trolls (at least in D&D). Are trolls that don't regenerate really trolls? Why call them trolls? Sounds like they'd just be really ugly humans.
As for my list earlier, aside from crossing out Merrow, we can remove Selkies from the list, too (I didn't notice before, but they prefer cold/subarctic waters) and Swanmays (who prefer temperate zones and aren't really a race, really, but more of a secret coven).
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Airellian
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Post by Airellian on Oct 11, 2011 18:00:08 GMT -8
No hands for the somatic components.
Perhaps a troll race with reduced regeneration, then. It's a pretty big advantage, though, for a PC race.
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Post by HorizonsDream on Oct 12, 2011 14:37:22 GMT -8
But they have the hands to hold a tiny rapier?
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Airellian
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Post by Airellian on Oct 12, 2011 18:50:45 GMT -8
No, they hold their rapiers in their clawed feet.
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