>In The Dream, however, it carries over into other traits as well; >they have half the memory of the other races, for instance. They >are smaller humans in every conceivable dimension!
Hmm, so if a Halfling is only 'half' a man, one is left to wonder what his other half is, the half that you can't see... Something fey, something spiritual, something dark and dangerous, just as the visible half is 'cute' and harmless? Hmm, I see an Eloi / Morlock possibility. In the day-time they are Halflings, but at night they transform to Goblyns... Alternately, each Halfling (or Goblyn) birth is a twin birth, with each Halfling having a Goblyn soul-brother, and while one race lives in the open and seems harmless, their evil other halves live in tunnels beneath their cozy homes and raid surrounding communities. If one dies, the other grows ill and dies as well, and if a happy-go-lucky Halfling joins an adventuring party, be assured that his 'evil twin' whom he loves like the brother it is, lurks behind in the shadows...
Great thread!
I have used the idea of unique monsters, in my case Dragons. There is only one Green Dragon, only one Black Dragon, only one White Dragon, only one Red Dragon and only one Blue Dragon. Each owns their own domain and servitor tribes of humanoids, etc. The Red Dragon controls a mountain range, and has a volcanic lair, from which his half-dragon children lord it over local ogre and orc tribes. The Green Dragon has a strange alliance with groups of feral wild elves and goblinoid tribes, whom she pits against each other for her own amusement, from within the forest she rules. The Black Dragon lords it over an oceanside marsh, and his lizard men servants have a culture of their own with rotting aztec and mayan style architecture and religious practices. The White Dragon lacks the clear domain of the others, and does not have a servitor race, but travels the great glacier, warring off and on with local frost giant tribes. The Blue Dragon also doesn't have an obvious servitor race, but the nomadic kobold tribes of the deep desert revere him as their creator and protector, and they keep the desert free of organized groups of other races, as their 'Sky-father' prefers. Assuming any of the Dragons were to breed with another of their kind, their child would be equally unique, a Yellow, or Purple, or Brown, or Orange dragon. Dozens of Dragon types are available in a half-dozen or more sources, even for 3E, so there is no shortage of possible 'unknown' full dragon children, as well as the assorted half-dragon template creatures that serve the draconic overlords.
I also used variant Elves, making them more chaotic and less good. They became more Fey and dangerous, becoming jaded over the centuries of life and caring not a whit for the shorter-lived races. They seem bored and almost asleep most of the time, but when they do feel something they feel it with an intensity that no human could match. When they rage, they do so with a pure hatred that takes no quarter and will slay friend or lover as quickly as foe. When they love, their love becomes an obsession, a part of every breath and thought, and if that intense focus is on a human, he/she will be swept away, and quite likely harmed by the intensity of the affair. Just as suddenly, the Elf can 'lose' this fiery passion, and simply walk away from a befuddled human mate, or someone who thought the Elf was going to destroy his entire village over some unknown slight. Basically, I made them like sharks, they glide placidly along, and then explode into violence. Literally, chaos in form, focussed into intense moments of *living* in an eternal ennui of mere existence.
Ideas I haven't used yet,
Completely remove the Cleric class as written from the game. Add healing spells to Wizards, and create a new Priest class based entirely on channeling positive (or negative, or elemental?) energy in a manner similar to Turning Undead. They would have many more 'Turning' attempts / day as their level increased and their reservoir of sacred (or profane) 'faith' increased. At the time they would also learn how to apply the energy channeled in an assortment of priestly ways, such as healing, blessing / cursing, bolstering / encourage allies, repelling opposing creatures, cleansing a body or an area of intrusions, toxins, hostile magics, etc, warding an area or even damaging or dispelling an opposing force or creature. Turning Undead would only be one of many uses for the channeled positive (or whatever) force, and others, such as healing or warding, would actually be the core functions of the energy, with 'undead turning' being a later development, added through specific class abilities similar to the Feats that a Paladin or Cleric currently can use to modify their Turning abilities in DotF. They wouldn't have a single 'spell.' Just a certain amount of 'feats of faith' / day and a dozen ways to use them.
Change the Sorcerer completely from a tiny variant of the Wizard to a more Fey / Draconic / Outsider touched person, able to channel and tap into the blood of his heritage. He would only gain a few spells compared to the Sorcerer, but they would be spell-like abilities, not cast spells (using the Monster Manual guidelines) and require no material components. Every level he would gain the ability to unlock another power from his blood, or to increase the per day usage of a previous power, based on his Constitution modifier in spell levels (as it is the 'strength of his blood,' not the force of his personality that determines his strength as a Sorcerer). As a less spellcastery force, he might have slightly better armor, weapon and hit point options than a true Wizard, to compensate for his significantly smaller spell list.
A variant Wizard could create talismans or foci of various spells, based on some craft or art skill, instead of casting spells directly. A 'Geomancer' would shape semi-precious stones to unleash their inner magic, drawing them later from a pouch and triggering the magic he has prepared within them. A 'Scribe' would carefully pen a spell down on vellum, to read and activate it later. An 'Alchemist' would brew that same magic into an elixir that she could later drink, to recieve the effects of the spell she has 'cast.' Literally dozens of options exist here, from a Necromancer who harvests the organs and body parts of creatures to trap their inner magic and unleash their stored qualities as spell effects, to an Artificer who creates intricate clockwork mechanisms that produce the arcane effects, or a Woodcarver who makes tiny totems that transform into the desired conjuration, or a Weaver of spells who creates intricate tapestries depicting the effects she seeks to make real, or a Painter who does the same, depicting the scene he wishes to create, much like Alter Reality, or a
Paperfolder who spends time in the midst of combat to fold intricate origami constructions that then take shape into the desired effect. Even a performance art, such as dance or song can be used to trigger a magical effect, although in this case, the 'spell' would be cast during the performance instead of 'constructed' earlier and stored in a bag.
A variant Psion, the Mentalist would become more powerful, but more limited, having less access to powers, but stronger ones individually. So a Mentalist might only focus on Telekinetic manifestations, and would just have the ONE power, Telekinesis, which he could manifest in several ways. While the Wizard is learning to throw that Fireball, he isn't just getting some crap 3d6 Force Blast, he is learning to chuck people through the air and slowly lift warhorses with his mind or animate weaponry to attack... Psi abilities would have an effect chart for the ever increasing singular base power, rather than a laundry-list of specific 'spells' or 'abilities / level' with the chart scaling up as their level increased (assuming they spent it all in one area, if a 7th level Mentalist decides to spend that levels training on Telepathic skills, he'd be a weak Telepath (+1) and a strong Telekinetic (+6) on the chart (modified by whichever stat is relevant to them, probably Wisdom). Such a system could be detailed in probably 4 to 7 pages tops, instead of the list of almost identical spell duplications that they currently have. It would be more like GURPS or Trinity (freeform) Psionics. I'd also stick to themes that were more common in Psi lore, Clairsentience / ESP / Past-viewing / Precognition, Telepathy / Mind Control / Empathy, Telekinesis, Apportation, Aura Reading, Spiritualism, etc. The outre stuff like shapeshifting or 'metacreativity' would be rarer, perhaps representing special side-abilities nabbable at higher levels with special Feats. (I really can't say if the 3E Psionics are worse than the 2E Psionics, since I didn't/don't like either, although the Will and the Way supplement came a long way to improving 2E Psionics.)
