How do you make your races feel unique and/or more original?

[Prisoner6]

When I'm developing new races, I try to identify some distinguishing trait and build upon it.

For example, I created a race of creatures that were a kind of "rodent-man". They were furry, with long teeth that continued to grow throughout their lifetime. The two traits I concentrated on were the color of their fur, and those ever-growing teeth.

Their society turned out to be stratified by the color of their fur. "Common" or lower-caste members tended to have gray-ish fur, which is actually comprised of all colors of fur mixed together more or less uniformly. The upper-caste had fur of a single solid color (white, roan, black, whatever), or very few colors, but with distinguished regions - so "spots" were ok. The point is that the lower caste has "mutt" fur, while the upper caste had more "pure bred" fur.

As for the teeth ... well, rodents need to continuously chew to wear down their teeth, so these creatures were constantly looking for things to chew out of necessity. A significant sector of their economy was based on supplying "quality chewables" for the wealthy. Only poor folk wood chew on common wood, or old wagon wheels. The rich would import only the finest items, rare woods of delictable densities and exotic flavors!

So, by taking just a few rather mundane elements from the race and building on them, the race gained a whole lot of flavor.

I'm not sure what do to with dwarves off the top of my head. Maybe you could do something with their diet ... I mean, what *is* there to eat underground anyway? I seem to recall something somewhere about dwarves eating rocks; that could be an interesting twist.

 

[Slander]

At the beginning of our campaign, one of my players stated they wanted to be a cleric of Athena. I hadn't really given much thought to the campaign pantheon, and really just assumed I'd be using the default core. But since that player decided to go greek on me, I backfilled the entire history of the campaign based on greek mythology. It was actually a fun little project, both in terms of creating the backstory and digging deeper into greek myth.

In my case, I got away with using a lot of greek names and references. But it could just have easily been as interesting if I had switched out the greek pantheon for a custom one. If I create another campaign again, I may look at other creation stories for similar inspiration.

Here's a quick recap of what I came up with:

Elves were the first race of the Golden Age created by Cronos and the other Titans. There's was a life without toil or sorrow. Elves disdain for all other races is particularly accute because their appearance coincided with the destruction of the Titan's rule and the end of paradise.

During the Ascendance of the gods, Giants attempt to overthrow the gods of Olympus and restore the Titans rule. As Zeus struck down the Giants, Gaea fashioned the blood-soaked rocks into Goliaths as a living memorial to her sons.

Orcs (a primary race in the campaign) were created from the teeth of the first dragon, slain by an elf. As the dragon was personal creation of Ares, he commanded the orcs to slay the elf in retribution. The elf tricked them into fighting one another and made his escape. To this day orcs are torn between fighting amongst themselves and fighting the elves.

Humans, dwarves, halflings and gnomes were all created by Prometheus from different elements of the earth in order to pay homage to Zeus and the gods.

Aasimar are decendants of the gods or their servants, and often find themselves wrapped up in the affairs and politics of the gods.

Tieflings are the decendants of devils specifically (which themselves are creations of Tartarus, tasked with eternally tormenting the wicked souls that end up there). Tieflings often have one strong urge or vice that reflects a specific evil which can doom a soul to Tartarus. Those who seek to fit into society constantly struggle against that urge.

While Prometheus was out creating races for Zeus, Dolos (his assistant) tried his hand at modeling a new race, male and female, from some clay. Each time he would complete a new form, he would ball the clay up and start again. Prometheus returned unexpectedly in the middle of another attempt. Afraid Prometheus would be angered at his workings, Dolus threw the incomplete forms out the workshop window. And thus, Changelings came to be.

Killoren are a new creation of Gaea. There numbers are scattered and few, and the purpose for their creation isn't known ... yet.

 

[exile]

Elves- I'm playing an elf in Living Forgotten Realms right now. I play her very much as a capricious force of nature. In a campaign world that a friend and I were designing, we took this a step further, making elves servants of the eladrin fashioned from falling leaves.

Halflings (I love these guys and still picture them as looking like hobbits even if it represents a break from the party line)- In the homebrew world mentioned above, the hobbits/halflings were once a race of "Atlantean" proto-humans. They were tall, handsome, intelligent, strong, graceful, talented inventors, nearly perfect. Unfortunately, their deity was very flawed, and when she proved unfaithful to her husband (the head of the pantheon), her people turned her back on them. In a fit of rage, she cursed them with diminutive, pudgy bodies and oversized, hairy feet. Modern day halflings are still haunted nightly by dreams of what they once were (though they no longer fully remember that past), so much in fact that they often have to take naps during the day, lending them a reputation for laziness.

Dwarves- These guys dwell on the coast of an island-continent much like Australia. They maintain a powerful steam-based navy, as well as a rail network that connects their cities. They are divided into "guilds" that really aren't that specialized, bearing a closer resemblance to Rokugan's clans than any real guild. They built and maintain a great wall that protects their current civilization from the wasted interior of their island home (a place that was once their home, but which they destroyed with a doomsday device). Because of their limited numbers, they import human and halfling indentured servanst from other nations tow work and fight for them.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

One thing I always do when it comes to races is to tie them tightly into the world and each other. I really like the feeling that the way the races came about have been influenced by each other and the world itself.

So for example in one campaign setting of mine:

Eladrin: Were the first race, they existed in a old reality and were servants of a God-Machine. They crafted the Warforged to exist as servants for themselves. However, they eventually cast down this reality and their ancient city and brought about a new reality (with the help of the God-Machine influencing them). The Eladrin are those that did not change during the reality shift and still live outside of this reality.

Humans: Humans were once Eladrin. However they became twisted by the reality shift into their current form of Humans and soon became to dominant species of the new reality because they were "designed" for it.

Elves: Elves are echoes of the "lesser-beings" that existed prior to the reality shift. They now hide from those who came about in the new reality in the deep wilderness that still haven't changed into the current reality.

Tieflings: Tieflings are humans who while in the womb have been warped by the constant shifting of reality. So as such they are born as mutated beings.

Warforged: Ocassionally someone will come across ruins of the old reality. Within these ruins are Warforged waiting for their masters to return. Upon being woken they find new service as their own masters or in the service of someone else.

As you can tell every race is tied into the reality shifting and the original race of Eladrin.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, it starts with "filing off the serial numbers"...

Someone I know was having an issue with 4Ed halflings as river-boat charlatains, but still wanted a culture that ruled the rivers for a homebrew.

So I suggested something along the lines of:

"Anthropomorphic" Snapping/Alligator Snapping turtles.

Short & slow, but strong and very stocky, with a vicious bite & the obvious natural armor. They don't need boats- they're excellent swimmers- but often work as ferrymen, towing rather than poling them across. Those that own the riverboats that take goods the length of the rivers have a status much like caravan masters.

Their natural armor and physical power make them highly valued as soldiers on warships, though they lack the speed that pirates and raiders favor.

If they have a failing, it is their tempers, which are usually volcanic. They are patient- often to a fault- but when they lose their tempers, they completely lose it. Think, "long fuse" but "huge explosion"

As such, they are largely a tribal species, with strength in combat or success in trade being the measuring sticks for prominence in their society.

They love adorning themselves to show wealth or status. Warriors especially favor bright pigments (red is a favorite, followed by yellow) for painting symbols on their faces, and its not uncommon for them to have intricate designs etched into their shells. Those with etched shells sometimes paint the shells or the etchings (or both) to highlight the details.

* +4 Strength, -4Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
* Natural Armor: +4AC
* Natural Attack: Bite 1d8
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Light Sensitivity: they are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
* Poor Hearing: -2 to all checks involving hearing
* Crafty: +2 to all checks involving commerce (Appraise, Bluff, etc.). They may not be charismatic, but they know how to bargain.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, they have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Base land speed is 20 feet. However, they can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations). Their land speed is also unaffected by mud.
* Base Swim speed is 30 feet. Like their land speed, they can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
* Hold Breath: While living a very aquatic life, they are air-breathers. However, they can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to six times their Constitution score before risking drowning.
* Rivercunning: They get a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice and avoid river hazards, like whirlpools, hidden sandbars or rocks, submerged logs or hidden river predators. One who merely comes within 10 feet of a river hazard can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and can use the Search skill to find traps involving rivers as a rogue can. They can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underwater as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
* Stability: They gain a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
* Because their diet consists largely of fresh or scavenged meat, they have built up a natural resistance to toxins, giving them a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
* Favored Class: Barbarian

(Did that in 3.X stats because I don't do 4Ed.)

Now, that was inspired primarily by what I know about Snapping Turtles.

The mechanics, however, were a little bit Dwarf, a little bit Orc, and some Lizard Man, with a dash of 4Ed Hafling culture thrown in. I didn't use the Anthro rules (though they could be good for tweeks)- I just grabbed some stuff from various races and "filed off" the relevant identifiers.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

1) Read up on the original myths D&D races are based on and pay particular attention to the parts you'd never heard before. Some personal examples:
* The original Norse alfar are super-humans who look super-attractive but don't seem different in any other way from normal humans. In fact humans seem to be able to ascend to become alfar.
* Dwarves were more like pale, human-sized spirits of the dead.
* Trolls weren't always seen as terrible brutes and were actually quite good with magic. In fact the word "troll" may really mean something like "supernatural".

2) Don't be afraid to take inspiration from areas nearby to Europe. Ex:
* "European" mythological creatures such as the unicorn and the griffin have their origins in the Middle-East.
* Medieval travel stories like Sir John Mandeville contain stories of really weird beings such as dog-headed people and people with horns and hooves.

3) Just because it doesn't come from Europe doesn't mean it couldn't fit into a "European" setting with a little work. Though cultures around the world may seem different at first, if you look at them closely you can see similarities. Find a race from another culture and link it in to the Medieval via the connections you personally can recognize.