D&D 4th edition races as psudo-oriental adventures setting.

Long story short, I decided to generalize up a psudo-oriental adventures setting.

So far, I have the races:

None of the races will have any game changes to them. Their back-stories will be changed for a more OA feel, while keeping the ability to have any race.


This first twelve races are the members of the Zodiac Clans. Each race is the patron race of a clan, original descendants of the first lords of the Zodiac.

Gnome (Clan of the Rat): Forthright, tenacious, intense, meticulous, charismatic, sensitive, hardworking, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, artistic, shrewd. Can be manipulative, vindictive, self-destructive, mendacious, venal, obstinate, critical, over-ambitious, ruthless, intolerant, scheming.

Minotaur (Clan of the Ox): Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

Shifter (Clan of the Tiger): Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous. Can be restless, reckless, impatient, quick-tempered, obstinate, selfish, aggressive, unpredictable, moody.

Changeling (Clan of the Rabbit): Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.

Dragonborn (Clan of the Dragon): Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, jealous, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.

Githzerai (Clan of the Snake): Deep thinker, wise, mystic, graceful, soft-spoken, sensual, creative, prudent, shrewd, elegant, cautious, responsible, calm, strong, constant, purposeful. Can be loner, bad communicator, possessive, hedonistic, self-doubting, distrustful, mendacious, suffocating, cold.

Elf (Clan of the Horse): Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile - mentally and physically, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded. Can be fickle, arrogant, childish, anxious, rude, gullible, stubborn.

Goliath (Clan of the Ram): Righteous, sincere, sympathetic, mild-mannered, shy, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate, understanding, mothering, determined, peaceful, generous, seeks security. Can be moody, indecisive, over-passive, worrier, pessimistic, over-sensitive, complainer, weak-willed.

Tiefling (Clan of the Monkey): Inventor, motivator, improviser, quick-witted, inquisitive, flexible, innovative, problem solver, self-assured, sociable, artistic, polite, dignified, competitive, objective, factual, intellectual. Can be egotistical, vain, selfish, reckless, snobbish, deceptive, manipulative, cunning, jealous, suspicious.

Eladrin (Clan of the Rooster): Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, opinionated, given to empty bravado.

Halfling (Clan of the Dog): Honest, intelligent, straightforward, loyal, sense of justice and fair play, attractive, amicable, unpretentious, sociable, open-minded, idealistic, moralistic, practical, affectionate, sensitive, easy going. Can be cynical, lazy, cold, judgmental, pessimistic, worrier, stubborn, quarrelsome.

Dwarf (Clan of the Pig): Honest, gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal, hard-working, trusting, sincere, calm, understanding, thoughtful, scrupulous, passionate, intelligent. Can be naive, over-reliant, self-indulgent, gullible, fatalistic, materialistic.

Humans also make up a large section of each of the above clans. A human will often be ritually tattooed as a member of their clan, allowing them to proudly display their heritage. These tattoos are not a display of rank, as much dedication. Most might only have their arm or shoulder tattooed, while a clan-pact (fey pact) warlock might tattoo his face as a mask of his patron clan. An old samurai or monk might have most of this back and arms covered in art depicting his feats for his clan.

Half-elves are slightly modified to be the half-breed of any clan. While most born of a union of a ClanRace and a human tend to be the same race as their same-sex parent, some are actual amalgams of both. They are normally seen as an omen, and often have magical abilities. Use the half-elf race, but allow them to take racial feats of their Clan-Parent race if they meet the pre-requisite.

Kami (spirit) Races

Kami (spirit) Races:

Kami are spirit races, not directly connected with the Zodiac, but spirits made flesh. They come in many kinds, and each is unique.

Deva are Ancestor Spirits. Born from the spirits of ancestors, these beings normally are formed on the site of a mortal's greatest accomplishment or failing. While they only remember a little of their former life, they still embody the nature of the person whom they are reincarnated from. This race is useful also as a way of having a character "come back from the dead", without normal resurrection.

Wilden are Nature Spirits, normally of a kind like fox or cherry tree, bamboo or spider. They're visually like their linked natural source, but humanoid. They normally form to protect sacred natural sites.

Genasi are Elemental Spirits. They do not change much, being Earth Spirits (earthsoul), Fire Spirits (firesoul), Void Spirits (stormsoul), Water Spirits (watersoul), and Wind Spirits (windsoul). These beings normally come from pure elemental sites, like pure springs, or an eternal wandering storm around a mountain top.

Shardmind are object or site Spirits. They are formed from the memories and rituals surrounding an object or site. A comb used to brush the hair of the dead might eventually become the core of a Shardmind, its arms and legs forming from white funeral wrappings, a wooden death-mask, and the splinters of a dozen unused coffins. Another might form from the lantern of an old temple. It's body formed from the temple wood and stone.

Other races

Warforged make excellent "Terracotta Warriors". Warriors built to serve the Imperial Throne as immortal warriors of clay and steel.

Drow become the "Tsuchigumo", or "Spider Clan". Known as assassins and warriors for hire. Considered mad, honorless, and deceitful. Several small families, served by humans who can come and go without notice among the other clans.

Half-Orcs are the decendants of Oni. Demon blooded mercenaries. Hired by clans as muscle and warriors.

Finally:

Kalashtar, or "The Lost Ones": Souls of the lost Cat clan, merged with a bloodline of human monks who once allied with them. They have fallen into decline, and now are suffered to wander between clans as pitied vagabonds. Considered bad luck, these creatures are often paid to leave, since killing one could bring calamity.

Nobody likes talking about the cat clan, since nobody is sure what happened. Their ancestral lands are now barren of life, leaving only hungry ghosts and other spiteful undead and spirits.

You know, you've made Shardminds really interesting with that tweak. I am yoinking the heck out of it.

Some of the clans are a little odd-duck. Changeling/Rabbit and Tiefling/Monkey.

Might want to change Tieflings to a Spirit race, something to do with Oni or monsters perhaps?

Maybe want to make "half-orc" and "half-elf" actually just full clans, with no ties to their normal parent races. Mechanics are basically the same, but fluff changes so that they're not half-anythings. Half-elves might be good fit for Monkey, with Half-orcs working well with Rabbit.

And then changelings become inter-clan shifters, who drift between clans.

Another possibility is to link Changelings with the moon: ever-changing, shifting, tide-controlling, pale white...lots of potential resonance there.

Well, it's a matter of interpretation.

The changeling got rabbit as a matter of personality. Keep in mind, I needed 12 zodiac races, so some had to be merged in at a touch of an angle.

If you look at monkey, the personality traits seem perfect for the tiefling.

As to shapeshifters, with 4th edition, you can take a multiclass feat and become part druid to get the ability to take animal forms. Considering that, I figure it's not too off an idea to allow a feat that allows anyone to shapeshift into a single animal type and keep the ability to use the basic melee attack at 1d6 unarmed damage. You suddenly have kitsune and swanmays that way.

And glad you liked the Shardmind. Along with all the other Kami races, it seemed a nice method to keep the race and change the concept.

no reason not to shuffle around the zodiac races, though. Switch them around and let us know what you came up with. Mine are just a first example.

Oddly, I'm not bothering to change the name of the classes. Samurai seems more of a social title than a class. A paladin, ranger, fighter, or even swordmage could easily have the title samurai. We've pretty much just decided to figure out some kind of social or feat system for samurai, clans, and the like.

Given the bent of each race, I like the signs with which you've associated them. I'll be borrowing these for one such campaign I'm planning coming up.

The link of changeling and the moon IS present. In fact that is why I initially thought you went with changeling/rabbit - as don't some Asian cultures (Namely Japan) have a rabbit in the moon (rather than man). I simply assumed your choice was based upon this. (Though shifters could fit too, but I like changelings and moon connection).

All sounds very interesting. I already see dragonborn culture being very 'samurai' like and often use them with an 'Oriental' influence.

Cheers, C

dwarves would fit the samurai perfectly too, since they are clanish in nature and venerate the ancestors.

Connorsrpg said:

All sounds very interesting. I already see dragonborn culture being very 'samurai' like and often use them with an 'Oriental' influence.

Click to expand...

I, too, have always thought of dragonborn as more or less Japanese. Down to giving them samurai armor, katanas and the like.

Vietnamese and Chinese are dragonborn... There royal lines are descended from Dragons.

I would suggest That dragons mating with humans would have been shape changed into human form and would have offspring with human form... and able to shift like in this home brew...
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