Difference between revisions of "Playable Races"

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* Tier III - Humans, Demihumans, and Monstrous Humanoids
 
* Tier III - Humans, Demihumans, and Monstrous Humanoids
 
* Tier IV - Humans, Demihumans, Monstrous Humanoids, and Beastfolk
 
* Tier IV - Humans, Demihumans, Monstrous Humanoids, and Beastfolk
* Tier V - Humans, Demihumans, Mosntrous Humanoids, Beastfolk, and Planetouched
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* Tier V - Humans, Demihumans, Monstrous Humanoids, Beastfolk, and Planetouched
 
* Tier VI - everything on this page
 
* Tier VI - everything on this page
  

Revision as of 07:13, 8 March 2021

Fantasy Tiers

Which races are available to play in a given campaign is given by the "fantasy tier" of that campaign.

  • Tier I - Humans only
  • Tier II - Humans and Demihumans
  • Tier III - Humans, Demihumans, and Monstrous Humanoids
  • Tier IV - Humans, Demihumans, Monstrous Humanoids, and Beastfolk
  • Tier V - Humans, Demihumans, Monstrous Humanoids, Beastfolk, and Planetouched
  • Tier VI - everything on this page

Humans

Humans are everywhere. Comprising roughly half the entire population, they are renown for their adaptability. They have settled every territory and can be found in all but the most insular of communities. Their short lives give them little to lose relative to other races, and so they tend to take big risks and reap even greater rewards.

Demihumans

Dwarves

Short, hairy, stout, and strong, most dwarves make their homes in the mountains of Ao and El-Uqh, and other mountain ranges across Delun, but it is not uncommon to see them in broader civilization, particularly in large cities.

Elves

Elves or Elphen are lithe, faen creatures blessed with eternal youth, reaching physical maturity at the same rate as humans but then aging slower and slower over the following centuries until they eventually come to resemble human middle-age around age 1,000, where they remain indefinitely.

Elves originated on the island of Wryth, before they destroyed it in a calamitous civil war. They are a diverse bunch, and deeply affected by the flows of aether in ways other superficially similar humanoids are not. Because of this, elves are most at home in their natural environments and are not often inclined to leave those places.

Elven Gender

Elves have a fundamentally different conception of gender from that of most other humanoids. Elves can change their biological sex at will and often do so as their moods suit them. Between this fact and their extremely long lives, low degree of sexual dimorphism, and inherently magical nature, they tend instead to break down into groups depending on their season or time of birth.

Light Elf Genders

  • Dawn elves are those born near to sunrise.
  • Daylight elves are those born near to midday.
  • Dusk elves are those born near to sunset.
  • Midnight elves are those born at night.

Wood Elf Genders

  • Spring elves are those born in spring.
  • Summer elves are those born in summer.
  • Autumn elves are those born in autumn.
  • Winter elves are those born in winter.

Dark elves have no strong conception of gender whatsoever.

Dark Elves

Dark elves, called Draven in their tongue, are the most insular of the elves, living almost exclusively in the underground city of Narthrall beneath the hellish ashlands of Wryth. Beneath the black sky speckled with the light of star-bats, dark elves spend most of their lives in complete and total darkness. Suffused in shadow aether and favored by Lamera, the goddess of birth and death, they have developed skin as black as night and hair as white as snow. They are a rare and often feared sight outside Narthrall.

Duality

Dark Elves' souls are born in two bodies. A dark elf traditionally discovers and bonds with their fated soul twin in a ceremony during childhood. From this time onward, their minds become more and more interlinked.

A Dark Elf character starts with two physical bodies that share a single pool of hit points. All mental conditions (charm, unconsciousness, etc.) affect both bodies simultaneously. If an entity taps into the senses of the dark elf, they perceive the points of view of both bodies simultaneously. If a Dark Elf character fails their last death save, the body that most recently took damage is the one that dies. If one of a dark elf's bodies dies or is destroyed, it cannot be resurrected, as the dark elf's soul remains bound in their other body. This causes them to become Severed.

Severing

A severed Dark Elf is one whose psychic twin has died. Severing is a painful, traumatizing event that leaves the Dark Elf catatonic for days or even weeks afterward.

Light Elves

Light elves, also known as sun elves or Aariphen are those who have taken to building grand cities of stone far beyond their traditional homelands. They are touched by the air and the light, and many regard their fair cities as the pinnacle of civilization. Most high elves live in the Araxian Empire, where they make up a majority of the nobility.

Wood Elves

Wood elves mostly make their homes in the forests of Delgar, particularly in the untamed western territory of Edrys, where they live alongside the beasts of the wilds. Many of them are druids or rangers, and most are followers of . They tend to see themselves as the protectors of the forest and other wild places. They are no strangers to traveling the land, and they are not an uncommon sight in small towns and villages, but it is rare for them to settle in cities.

Gnomes

Compact denizens of the underworld, gnomes can be found in mountain burrows, often living in close proximity to dwarves. Where dwarves are stout, sturdy creatures known for working metal and stone, gnomes tend toward the intellectual and arcane pursuits, and are also often known as dextrous gemcutters and jewelers. As with dwarves, their mercantile pursuits and reasonably agreeable nature tends to put them into contact with human civilization quite often.

Half-elves

Part human, part elf, half-elves carry traits of both lineages and may find themselves living among humans and elves alike. They are a common sight in civilized lands.

Halflings

Small of stature and fleet of foot, halflings make excellent thieves, which contributes to their reputation for being shifty layabouts. Their prodigious apetities, culinary and otherwise, certainly don't help matters. Stereotypes aside, halflings are very common, settling in every verdant valley and cozy town across the land.

Half-orcs

Like half-elves, half-orcs share traits of both their lineages and may find themselves living among humans or orcs alike. They are a common sight in civilized lands.

Monstrous Humanoids

Centaurs

Half man, half horse. How many lungs do they have? Nobody knows. What we do know is that most of them live in nomadic tribes stretched out across the plains of Ambervale and Henge. Goblin The smallest of the goblinoids, goblins are short, green, and often chaotic creatures. While most goblins belong to clans where they seek protection from bigger and stronger hobgoblins and bugbears, some few, often the more educated ones, wind up in civilized society. What they lack in physical strength they make up for in cleverness, and even poorly educated goblins have proven themselves to be reliable trap-builders and inventors. They are common throughout the world.

Goliaths

Large humanoids who hail from the mountains of Dol and Ao. Goliaths are known for having very little body hair, and yet also very little in the way of social graces.

Hobgoblins

Hobgoblins share both goblin and human ancestry, and that this has made them creatures of unimaginable destruction is hardly a surprise. They tend to live in large goblinoid clans, organizing and leading wars against humanoid settlements of all kinds.

Kobolds

Small cousins of dragonborn, most kobolds live in caves and dig expansive tunnel networks and are very fond of making traps. They are given to the worship of dragons, and hordes of kobolds are often found in their employ. Kobolds also have a knack for bartering and tinkering, and are not unknown in civilization, though they certainly are uncommon.

Orcs

Distant cousins of elves, once known as Orphen, from which the word "orphan" comes, Orcs are robust, green-skinned humanoids with prominent lower canines, often called tusks. Most orcs live in tribes a few dozen to a few hundred strong. Orc tribes sometimes ally with goblin clans, or more often subjugate them. Full-blooded orcs are rare in civilization, but not entirely unheard-of. Half-orcs, however, are fairly common.

Tritons

Tritons guard the ocean depths, building small settlements beside deep trenches, portals to the elemental planes, and other dangerous spots far from the eyes of land-bound folk. Long-established guardians of the deep ocean floor, in recent years the noble tritons have become increasingly active in the world above, particularly Belgrit, with whom many triton kingdoms have grievances.

Beastfolk

Kenku

Raven-folk of the desert and prairie, the kenku are natural scavengers and collectors. They tend to be poor and isolated due to their limited ability to communicate. Children in cities grow up with tales of kenku thieves gliding silently through the night, alighting on rooftops and slipping in through windows to steal shiny things for their nests. And although there is little truth to this as a common trait of kenku, bird people associated with omens of death and avarice who steal others' voices to speak with are pretty much guaranteed to be distrusted wherever they go.

Lizardfolk

Hailing from tthe marshes of southern Edrys and many of the tropical islands south of Delun, most lizardfolk adopt a tribal lifestyle and are regarded as skilled sailors and fishermen. They are not an uncommon sight on a Belgritian merchant vessel.

Loxodon

Elephant-folk native to the Eloxi desert. Loxodons are massive and strong. Though relatively few in number compared to other races, they are quite common in Elox, and Loxodon heavy infantry units form the backbone of the Aoloxi army.

Minotaurs

Beastly humanoids with bovine features, minotaurs hail from Dol and Ao. Despite their beastly appearance, they are often quite calm and good-natured, although you really wouldn't want to get in a fight with one. They are found in small numbers throughout the world, including in civilized lands as well as small tribes.

Tabaxi

Hailing from the southern coast of Delun, tabaxi are catlike humanoids driven by curiosity to collect interesting artifacts, gather tales and stories, and lay eyes on all the world’s wonders. Ultimate travelers, the inquisitive tabaxi rarely stay in one place for long. Their innate nature pushes them to leave no secrets uncovered, no treasures or legends lost.

Tortles

What many tortles consider a simple life, others might call a life of adventure. Tortles are born near the sandy coastlines, but as soon as they’re able to walk on two legs, they become nomad survivalists eager to explore the wilderness, experience its many wonders, put their skills to the test, and make new acquaintances.

Yuan-ti

Snake people from the wilds of Edrys, most yuan-ti are utterly unfit for civilization, but one exception exists: Yuan-ti purebloods are sufficiently intelligent that they can sometimes find a home in civilized society.

Planetouched

Tieflings

Tieflings are touched by the infernal, their features a mixture of human and devil. They tend toward bright skin colors ranging from red to blue, and have both horns and tails. Born of fire, they hail from the deserts of Elox, but they can be found most anywhere. Despite their dramatic appearance, distrust of tieflings, once commonplace, has largely become an element of history. Even so, they remain a systemically disenfranchised people. Few tieflings hold significant lands or titles, and most are entertainers, laborers, sailors, and, of course, adventurers..

Warforged

Former construct soldiers of the Aiji Empire and the League of Order, the warforged were created to enforce the law and battle against the forces of chaos. When the Empire lost that war, the Autumn Phoenix imbued the warforged with sentience and freed them. No new warforged are created, so they are quite rare, but most are subject to a form of cyclical memory failure and reset approximately every 20 years.