Forked Thread: What "classic" races -- fitting current 4E races to type

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Forked from: What "classic" races are left? -- Forked Thread: PH3 Playtest Race: Wilden

DreadPirateMurphy said:
Here is what I can think of in terms of "traditional fantasy" archetypes:

Anthropomorphic Animals: Includes all of the furry races, including lycans/shifters, and the various insect/lizard versions who nevertheless seem to have prominent mammal-type breasts. (I imagine that in an RPG created by bugs, all of the mammal-based fantasy races would have some very sexy pheromones.)

Humans with Rubber Foreheads: Take a human and add pointy ears or glowy eyes. Optionally, pick a human trait (intelligence, violence, magic, whimsy, or arrogance) and crank the dial to eleven. Many fantasy campaigns have turned scary mythological races into these. Useful for budgetary reasons on popular Sci-Fi shows.

The Created: Golems, clones, androids, Cylons (tm), robots, clockwork creatures, etc. Bonus points if you avoid a trite Aesop about human technological hubris.

The Dead: As a player race, usually of the cosmopolitan and controlled type, or less palatably of the teenage angst/abusive relationship metaphor type. Could be vampires, ghosts, intelligent zombies, space skeletons, or some version of "only mostly dead," like Eberron's death fetish religion among the elves.

Personifications of Nature: These are the original, scary versions of elves and dwarves, now portrayed mostly by NPC races like dryads, pixies, nixies, Dixies (known for Southern Pride), sylphs, etc. Elementals count. Things called derros, kobolds, goblins, brownies, etc., in various cultures, represented the relatively uncaring and hostile natural world back when medicine involved leeches and sewage filled the streets of towns.

Half-breeds: Minotaurs, centaurs, harpies, etc., are all basically bash-kits of the gods. Most of them represent monsters, as they did in much classical mythology. These can be taken to ridiculous extremes, and usually are in fantasy games. "You round the corner and encounter a SPARROW-SPANIEL!"

Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Lovecraft personifies the author focused on things most notable for causing insanity and ick, but he's certainly not alone. Squid-thingies, colors from space, amorphous blobs, and other weirdos populate this realm. Some of them, like the Star Frontiers Dralasites, have been made family-friendly. All of these creepies follow the somewhat limited philosophy of "aliens = gross."

The Hidden: Shapeshifters, They Live! Aliens, Bodysnatchers, Puppet-Masters, and relatively benign creatures like Kalashtar. Originally embodied by myths about changelings and such. These guys are "not what they seem," but not necessarily in a Lovecraftian insanity-causing way.

Group Consciousness: Usually either insect-based, Gaea-theory-based, or technology-based (Resistance is Futile!). The 3.5 Dragon Compendium has a twins-based version that probably was both interesting and awkward in actual play.

Personifications of Morality/Ethics: Angels, devas, demons, devils, tieflings/aasimar, etcetera, etcetera. This is typically a reflection of the switch to dualistic faiths and the fading of gods seen as "big, petty people who throw lightning bolts." In a sense, this is a slightly different take on Personifications of Nature. Mortal races like the drow can count as this, but are typically demon-inspired as a rationale lest one draw unfortunate conclusions based solely on surface physical characteristics.

I'm struggling to come up with anything that doesn't fit into one (or at most two or three) of these tropes. Are there any possible protagonist race types that I've missed?

I was thinking about this, and I was wondering if I could fit all of the current 4E D&D races into these archetypes. So, I created a background world concept and started slotting in the D&D player character races (and a few others) in a way that was both generic but also sensible. This thread is where I want to post the results of this effort. I'll be curious to know if the community thinks this of interest.

P.S.: I also added in a "Touched by an Angel" concept based on DannyAlcatraz's mention of Nephilim and the need to represent a race infused by some other force.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

First, we have a little back story to set the context for the racial concepts. The term "Ka" is directly stolen from Stephen King's Dark Tower, but you could use any short word with a big meaning -- Chi, Po, etc.

The World of Ka

A long time ago, on a planet circling a yellow star, there was a race of bipedal mammals making progress on becoming the dominant life form. While they still had not completely eliminated the idea that they were occasionally food for other predators, they were making significant improvements on this status through teamwork and fitfully advancing technology. They called themselves and anybody closely related or outwardly friendly, “humans.” Everybody else they called terms like “infidel,” “slave,” or “target.”

Of course, not everybody shared this bleak view of the universe. There was a spiritual order in a remote area of the planet that was working on becoming “one with the universe” in the metaphysical sense. One of the initiates of this order went by the name of “Ka.” The word meant “truth” in a slightly archaic dialect, and so Ka felt it was an appropriate name under which one could seek enlightenment. If his superiors in the order felt this was pretentious, they never said anything. Ka was not the star of the order. In fact, he was never on his way to being either a prophet or a hierophant, and would have labored on in obscurity without the intervention of fate.

One day while meditating, Ka encountered something extraordinary – or rather, it discovered him. The place he chose to sit and meditate turned into the outlet for a massive power sink. This sink probably came from a parallel universe, but whether it was scientific or supernatural is hard to say. Luckily for us, thanks to Clarke’s Law we don’t have to specify. For Ka, the experience resulted in his becoming one with the universe in a more physical and less meta- sense than he ever expected.

In a sense, Ka’s mind came to encompass the entire universe. In the process, his mind fragmented and lost any sense of individuality or personality. The Elemental Chaos was born out of Ka’s basic drives and subconscious insecurities. The Astral Plane formed out of his rational mind and drive for self-perfection. The most dramatic and evident change, however, was made to the world itself.

First, there came into existence various reflections of the world, the most familiar of which are reflections of shadow and fey. Second, people began to discover that they could make the seemingly supernatural occur with their minds. These effects came to be called magic, and its ubiquity and relative ease of use quickly eliminated any stigma associated with “witches.” Those properties also served to discourage purely technological progress – the best and brightest discovered became users of magic instead of just philosophers and scientists. Third, the physical universe outside of that known by Ka (i.e., the world and what was visible of the heavens) seemed to…go away. Whether or not the rest of the physical universe still exists in some form is unknown.

The vast majority of people and other beings have no idea how the universe changed that day. There are many, many legends of a massive catastrophe that wrought havoc across the lands of men, but there is little detail remaining from so far in the past. The word “Ka” now has multiple meanings, including truth, destiny, the universe, and life. The one being who could say that it used to represent a single individual is no longer capable of telling anybody.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Anthropomorphic Animals

Dragons came into being shortly after the Awakening (as dragons call the ascension of Ka). In effect, whenever the Astral Plane comes close to coalescing into an actual “thought,” that pseudo-thought materializes as a dragon on the material plane. Right after the Awakening, this happened fairly frequently. Over time, the incidence of this dropped off until it is almost unknown in modern times. Luckily for dragons, they came equipped with the means of propagating themselves.

Dragons, like thoughts, came with various ethical leanings. Those most compatible with humans had a desire to befriend and even aid local communities. This was rarely very successful. It turns out that most people react similarly to giant magical lizards regardless of the actual ethical alignment of the creature involved. As inherently magical creatures, the more friendly dragons came up with a solution.

The dragonborn were created to serve as intermediaries and servants among humanity. They combine that which is most impressive in dragons with human characteristics that allow them to relate. In fact, dragonborn were specifically created to enjoy interacting with humans, and so many prefer to act as stalwart members of human communities, or to travel around, experiencing the variety of human existence. Over the years, dragons released many of the dragonborn from service for a variety of reasons (including death, as dragons are not technically immortal). Thus, there are plenty of independent populations to serve as the home of adventuring player charcters.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Humans with Rubber Foreheads

Eladrins were formed as the Fey reflection of humanity. Reflecting the prejudices of the creator, they were created with a pre-existing “ancient” history and culture. Most see themselves as superior to humanity. Pride is a common trait, though this isn’t always obvious to humans. Most would not deign to brag to a human, lest they imply that humans are in some ways comparable to the eladrin. Instead, they engage in elaborate social competitions in their homes on the Feywild. Many of the adventuring eladrin left to get away from the constant social struggle (because they were tired of it, or because they lost), or are descended from those who did.

Eladrin are cousins to elves, or so they have said. The reality is more sinister. At some point in the past, a sizeable number of eladrin engaged with something in a bid for personal power. This turned out to be a bad deal. The involved eladrin soon changed into creatures now called drow, creatures that practically oozed evil and threatened to tear the Feywild apart. In desperation, the remaining eladrin made their own supernatural pact. Of those who became drow, many were changed back – partially. They became what humans call elves. Simultaneously, groups of humans around the globe became more bestial, turning into orcs as some vital essence was stolen from them in order to redeem the drow.

This fix was not perfect. Not all of the drow were changed back, and they retreated into exile. Furthermore, the few elite eladrin who know of this history will kill to keep it secret. They have no desire to let humanity know what was stolen and why, nor do they wish to confess their role in unleashing the plague of orcs on the world. The sole clues to this history that are commonly known is the existence of half-orcs and half-elves.

While crude tavern jokes hint at vile origins for half-orcs, in truth about one in every hundred orcish births result in a half-orc. These half-orcs bear some semblance to their lost humanity. Most are killed by orcish parents, but enough have survived to form small communities – half-orcs breed true with each other. Most struggle, as humans fear orcs and elves and eladrin have an unreasoning hatred for them rooted in secret history. Nevertheless, half-orcs can become heroes.

Half-elves, on the other hand, happen as you might expect – through the union of an elf and a human. The reason that this is possible is because of the element of essence that was stolen from humanity to redeem the drow. In effect, half-elves are possible because of a violation of humanity, but half-orcs are the ones who unjustly bear the suspicion.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

The Hidden

Vampires do not exist. Oh, sure, undead exist, of the mindless sort. Most people of Ka think about undead the way a 21st century Earthling thinks about cancer-causing toxic waste – hazardous, but not especially horrifying as long as it isn’t in your own backyard. Stay away from shadow and from necromancy, and you’ll be all right. Legends about vampires are mostly distortions of actual events, including accounts of unusual diseases or insane serial killers.

The vampires have worked very hard to make sure that this is the popular perception. In actual fact, a group of immortal and powerful creatures, corrupted by direct exposure to shadow, have taken up roles of importance in almost every human society. They have taken two approaches to maintain their place.

The first is that they do what they can to hide evidence. People who know are dismissed as eccentrics and crazies. Vampires who get out of control are put down for the good of the whole. While demonic cults exist, they are not as common as people perceive, largely because they’re a favorite scapegoat used by vampires to explain odd events. Vampires as a rule almost never engage in the necromantic arts. Nothing blows your cover as an undead abomination as quickly as commonly hanging around other undead abominations.

The second has been the creation of a race of servants. These servants serve as messengers, household staff, guardians, and food. These servants are halflings. To the outside world, halflings are common servants of the aristocracy. They are backed by power, and they are naturally good at avoiding attention and moving unseen. Not all halflings are aware of the truth. The True Clans continue to serve the vampires and know the secret, but over the centuries many halflings have left service or been exiled and have lost knowledge of the truth. These groups tend to wander in a nomadic fashion, though some settle. These Outside Clans would mostly be horrified to learn of their origins.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

The Created

At one point in the moderately distant past, the largest continent of Ka was mostly split between two rival empires. Both came up with the idea of creating super soldiers to help defend against/defeat their rival. They took two vastly different approaches, however.

The first empire was more oriented toward techno-magic. They created legions of living golems, known as warforged. When the empire finally fell to pieces, the forges used to create the warforged were destroyed and the knowledge needed to recreate them was lost. For years, it looked as if the remaining warforged would eventually be destroyed by time, unable to reproduce. Eventually, an enterprising user of magic created a ritual that would allow two warforged to transfer part of their personalities into a new construct body. In effect, the warforged give “birth” to a new “adult.” Skills and experience do not transfer, however, so there is a period of education roughly analogous to human childhood, albeit shorter. One interesting characteristic of this process is that more than two warforged can participate in the ritual. There is a mercenary company called the Brothers of Iron. It consists of five warforged, each created from a previous group of five warforged participating in the ritual. The five new warforged think much alike, and they make a fearsome combat team in any battle.

The second empire was more oriented toward the natural world. They used magic to augment human soldiers, allowing them to manifest the characteristics of animals. These shifters could breed just like normal humans, and their lines continued after the fall of their empire. Interestingly, the child of a shifter will also be a shifter, but there is no consistency in terms of the type of shifter. Shifters seem to have an innate ability to understand their gift through introspection, without parental guidance. Another interesting legacy of this period of time is that there are persistent rumors that some of the changes done to human soldiers went well beyond what some would consider ethical. It is unknown what a more radical human-animal crossbreed would be like in terms of temperament and abilities, but speculation by sages suggest a monstrous bent.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

The Dead

The shadar-kai are reflections of humanity in the Shadowfell, just as eladrin are reflections of humanity in the Feywild. If pride can be said to be the defining characteristic of the eldarin, then cold logic defines the shadar-kai. This turns into something a lot more horrifying than one would think on first impression.

Shadar-kai are not undead, though their existence as part of shadow means they are not fully living either. The reason humans refer to them as “The Dead Ones” has more to do with their attitude. They are completely emotionless and practical. They have none of the more endearing attributes of humanity such as sympathy or humor. If the most practical way to accomplish a task is to butcher an orphanage and turn the orphans into zombies, they will do so without conscience. They have no sense of vengeance, but they appreciate the educational value to others of punishing those who act against them. They can enter into a bargain, but they feel no qualms about violating the spirit of an agreement if they can gain advantage in doing so. If they can get out of a deal by killing the other party in secret, then they will. Self-interest is their driving factor.

There are philosophical questions about whether the shadar-kai are truly evil, or whether they just commit evil acts. Anybody who has survived dealings with this race of sociopaths finds such questions naïve at best.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Personifications of Ethics

Magic is relatively uniform. One location on Ka is pretty much the same as another, magically speaking. There are a few exceptions, however. Sometimes, there are concentrations of magical power called nodes. Sometimes, the actions of humanity can create temporary or permanent zones of higher or lower magical potential. Most rarely, somebody will stumble upon a sizeable fragment of the power flow that changed the world. When this happens, a new god is born. This level of power is several orders of magnitude less than the original, and so personality and individuality may be changed but are not completely lost. Gods tend to be “purer” in focus than mankind, but they have mostly recognizable motivations.

Around the time that dragons were appearing in the world, a number of new deities were also establishing themselves. Those with opposing ethics quickly fell to warring with each other, but the two sides were roughly equal in power. Both sides saw humanity as the way to tilt the balance of power. Both altered humanity to suit their needs. Tieflings were created as the embodiment of evil in human form. Devas became their alternate for good. The two sides used slightly different approaches. Tieflings were lured and tempted into corruption. Devas were usually volunteers of the faith who divested themselves of their memories and identity in order to serve their deities in an eternity of reincarnations.

A war between gods tends to be environmentally unfriendly. Not only was it becoming more and more evident that both sides would lose, but the bulk of humanity was starting to turn against both sides out of a desire for self-preservation. A truce was called, and severe limits were placed on how gods could interact on the mortal plane. As part of the armistice, both tieflings and devas were torn from their sponsors as a necessary sacrifice. They called themselves the abandoned, and many either destroyed themselves or wasted their lives in a pointless vendetta against each other. (Even devas can be destroyed permanently with the right combination of powerful magics.)

Eventually, the last remainder of both races decided to pursue their own lives. Enough time has passed that both tieflings and devas can adhere to pretty much any ethical alignment, though ancient prejudices sometimes manifest.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Personifications of Nature

When many people thing about personifications of nature, they think of the Feywild. This common fallacy makes druids shake their head in frustration. The Fey are reflections of the natural world, but not of it. In the ages of god-war and dragon-birth, the world created its own guardians based upon elemental order in counterpoint to the Primordial Chaos.

Where earth and air meet, the world created goliaths. Where earth and fire meet, the world created dwarves. Where earth and water meet, the world created trolls. Each race has its own predilections and habits. The one thing they have in common is an implicit desire to thwart the Primordial Chaos whenever it encroaches. One tale tells of a battle between dwarves and trolls that immediately stopped when demons joined the fray. Both sides tore the demons to pieces before going back to their own slaughter.

Dwarves and goliaths are likely to prioritize demons, and to a lesser extent elementals, over other threats, and to react to such creatures with outright hostility. This is innate, and only a very well-trained or highly unusual (e.g., an adventurer!) member of these races would be able to ignore these feelings. Trolls feel the same way, but they are also actively hostile to most other races, so the difference is less noticeable.

DreadPirateMurphy · Apr 27, 2009

Touched by an Angel

The Primordial Chaos touches the world in many places. Humans caught in the most violent of elemental events are sometimes changed in subtle ways. Sometimes the eyes or hair change color. Sometimes the skin becomes rough and hard or translucent in small patches. In general, these changes rarely have any practical effect…until child is born of a union of two so touched.

Genasi are the offspring of such unions. Unlike the abandoned, devas and tieflings, they are active, if unwitting, agents of an external force. Apart from obvious physical manifestations of an elemental nature, the environment around genasi is more prone to odd and unusual events. For this reason, they tend to be loners. An entire town of genasi would be beset by wildly variable weather, random structural failings in buildings, bizarre swings of chance, and weird coincidences. Most gambling establishments have a standard policy to bar entry.

Some genasi attempt to get around these limitations through devout worship of gods of law. Their faith can offset the influence of chaos, and so many genasi tend toward the lawful good end of the alignment spectrum. Others go in the opposite direction. The most active agents of chaos are also the most likely to profit from it. Chaotic evil genasi are a stock villain in the tales told by bards. Unaligned genasi tend to be oblivious to the impact of chaos on their lives. After all, if weird things always happened to you, you probably wouldn’t think they were unusual.

Forked Thread: What "classic" races -- fitting current 4E races to type

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