What are good races for "High Japanese Fantasy" settings?

[QuietBrowser]

Title says it all, and yet does not. "Japanese Fantasy" is my choice to avoid the... politically charged term "Oriental Fantasy", which itself relates to Oriental Adventures - a sourcebook for first AD&D and then 3rd edition aimed at providing more "Asiatic" (focused on Japan & China) options to D&D, which is traditionally set in a pseudo-European setting. My problem is that, for whatever reason, both of the Oriental Adventures sourcebooks presume a humanocentric (almost historical fantasy) approach to the game, and to me that does not make sense. I vastly prefer the "lots of fantasy races" approach that b oth classic D&D AND modern anime & manga tend to go for.

But that leaves me with the title's problem; what are good races for a "High Fantasy" setting using a "Japanese Aesthetic"? I have some thoughts of my own, but I figured I could start this thread to discuss the possibilities, be it race ideas, cultural roles, maybe even crunch.

So far, this is my list... Anybody have any opinions?

Hengeyokai
This is a classic choice in OA games of D&D, and makes logical sense. The big issue is that... traditionally? D&D has handled these races incredibly poorly, going with a primitive subrace approach and defining them entirely by their singular trait of animal shifting. It makes them incredibly dull. Pathfinder, ironically, has the superior methodology, treating each as its own race with its own unique abilities, and with shapeshifting as one SMALL part of the whole. I think D&D would be vastly improved to follow the same route, where Kitsune, Tanuki, etc is its own race and the most they share is a single "Hengeyokai" racial trait that provides shapeshifting. Even in an actual "Japanese Fantasy" book or PDF, all this would require is printing the racial trait once and then a "see X" line in each race's profile.

Oni
Amazingly, these have been a playable race in the past; the Ogre Mage had a PC writeup in AD&D's "Complete Book of Humanoids". It handled the various magical abilities by locking them behind hit dice requirements - you had to be X level to get Y ability. As oni are not always evil in the mythologies, I think they make a nice twist on the "Big Bruiser" archetype by giving it some mystical dabblings - magicless oni you can easily handle by reskinning Goliaths and/or Half-Orcs. Plus, let's be honest; You telling me you couldn't get an RPG hook out of "you were sent up from Hell to catch a monster/evil spirit that escaped, and you need to buddy up with these mortals so you've actually got the strength to drag its sorry ass back to Hell"?

Ratfolk
Rats have a surprisingly positive mythology in many Asiatic cultures. They're associated with good (financial) fortune in Japan, for example, and are part of the Chinese Zodiac for another. Whilst the Nezumi appeared in the 3e OA sourcebook mostly because it was Rokugan-based, they are a strong fit, I feel.

Rabbitfolk
As with ratfolk, rabbitfolk do have a pretty solid tie to Japanese & Chinese culture. Plus, I'm biased because I really like the Shin'hare, who are a villainous rabbitfolk race based on an amalgamation of the worst traits of Imperial Japan, Communist China and North Korea.

Monkeyfolk
The Vanara of the 3e OA might have taken their name from an actual race of Indian monkeyfolk (relatives of Hanuman, no less), but the archetype works perfectly well for Japanese/Chinese Fantasy setting. Why? Two words: Son Wukong. Aka, Son Goku. Aka, the Monkey of Journey to the West. He had a whole tribe of trained (but less stupidly overpowerful) monkeys at his home of the Mountain of Flowers & Fruit, so kung-fu fighting monkeyfolk are a perfect fit, in my opinion.

Serpentfolk
From Rokugan's Naga (which had a PC writeup in Rokugan D20) to the Orochi of Kamigawa, there's a lot of interesting directions one can take serpentfolk in a setting where they are allowed, if not encouraged, to be neutral to good aligned, instead of the cliche evil you're expected to make them in a Western Fantasy setting.

"Hakutakuns"
I'm reaching here, and probably allowing myself to be marked by the MGE more than I should, but... minotaurs tend to be just big dumb brutes. A mystical, three-eyed minotaur race who are goodly aligned by default and focused on magic, healing and being sages? That's definitely not something you see in D&D every day.

"Lungborn"
We have the Lung Dragons of D&D. We have the Dragonborn, whose culture in 4e could pretty much be summed up as "Samurai Dragon Klingons". So, a dragonborn variant based on Lung Dragons would be a natural fit, I feel. Perhaps the most interesting route, and the one I'm personally invested in pursuing, is the idea that lungborn start their lives out as small, amphibious, kobold-like beings (Yu Lungborn) and then mature into one of the different breeds based on the "adult" Lung Dragons.

Koropokguru
I know these are traditional in D&D, going all the way back to the first OA sourcebook for AD&D 1st edition, but... honestly, I could take or leave them. I mean, beyond the fact they were literally detailed as just the "Oriental Dwarf" in the past, and let's not talk about how racist they were, they basically feel pretty redundant. If you actually look up the lore of the koro-pok-guru (the most commonly accepted modern translation), they're described as small, reclusive humanoids who live in the wilderness (in pits roofed with butterbur leaves, specifically), pursuing a quiet existence as hunter-gatherers and fisherfolk with no particular interest in the outside world and generally being inoffensive little people. We have this racial archetype in D&D already. It's called the halfling. Maybe there are stories of their natures, abilities and interactions I'm just not finding, but nothing about what I've found suggests them as anything that can't be covered by giving the appropriate Ainu cultural trappings to halflings. Or, alternatively, this is just a Japanese name for Forest Gnomes.

Spirit Folk
Again... I could care less about this race. I suppose it has some mythical background, being essentially the Japanese/Chinese equivalent to Celestial Maidens and other "magical humanoid" agents of heaven, but in practice they've always come off as the "Oriental Elf" to the Korobokuru's "Oriental Dwarf". I mean, look at the facts:* Both races are the weakest and most "human" of a vast array of mystical beings that live alongside yet out of phase with the mortal world (Fey vs Kami).
* Both races look like extraordinarily beautiful and exotic humans with, at most, minor traits that hint at their unearthly true nature.
* Both races live for prolonged periods(? I honestly haven't been able to track down the spiritfolk lifespan in either OA book).
* Both races possess some inherent minor magical traits.


Maybe if the powers the Spirit Folk had were stronger, or they had better fluff than being an Orient equivalent to planetouched, I might have less of a problem with them. As-is, they feel too much like something you could replicate by taking an elf and giving it a racial trait or feat to replicate. River & Sea Spirit Folk in particular feel all too easy to replace with Aquatic Elves. Heck, at least the Dargonesti & Dimernesti have their shapechanging powers to make them unique; Water Folk don't even have that.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Hengeyokai
This is a classic choice in OA games of D&D, and makes logical sense. The big issue is that... traditionally? D&D has handled these races incredibly poorly, going with a primitive subrace approach and defining them entirely by their singular trait of animal shifting. It makes them incredibly dull. Pathfinder, ironically, has the superior methodology, treating each as its own race with its own unique abilities, and with shapeshifting as one SMALL part of the whole. I think D&D would be vastly improved to follow the same route, where Kitsune, Tanuki, etc is its own race and the most they share is a single "Hengeyokai" racial trait that provides shapeshifting. Even in an actual "Japanese Fantasy" book or PDF, all this would require is printing the racial trait once and then a "see X" line in each race's profile.

Well, if you're asking for my opinion, I'd be hesitant to use kitsune just because I don't want to give the creepy fanboys any encouragement. But setting that entirely subjective grudge aside, I think you're right on the money: the varieties of hengeyokai deserve to be distinct races. I might even question whether they need shapeshifting at all. D&D tends to strip down its playable races to the bare bones powerwise: dwarves and elves in Scandinavian folklore have a lot of magical abilities (in particular, the dwarf named Otter could almost be a hengeyokai), but the game would assume those come from their class levels or some other means. I'm not saying definitely not to give hengeyokai shapeshifting -- I'm saying that, if you're concerned about overpowering them, not giving them shapeshifting is an option.

Oni
Amazingly, these have been a playable race in the past; the Ogre Mage had a PC writeup in AD&D's "Complete Book of Humanoids". It handled the various magical abilities by locking them behind hit dice requirements - you had to be X level to get Y ability. As oni are not always evil in the mythologies, I think they make a nice twist on the "Big Bruiser" archetype by giving it some mystical dabblings - magicless oni you can easily handle by reskinning Goliaths and/or Half-Orcs. Plus, let's be honest; You telling me you couldn't get an RPG hook out of "you were sent up from Hell to catch a monster/evil spirit that escaped, and you need to buddy up with these mortals so you've actually got the strength to drag its sorry ass back to Hell"?

Again, like with the dwarves and elves and hengeyokai above, if oni are a playable race, it's easy to say that the oni of the Monster Manual with the potent magical abilities just has wizard or sorcerer levels -- literally an "ogre mage". As a race, I'd give them a knack for magic via an Int or Cha bonus, and otherwise make 'em look a lot like the half-orc or goliath as you say. Or, if the cone of cold is considered an iconic effect in D&D, then you've got a race with a Str and Cha bonus and a conical elemental attack... just reskin the dragonborn.

Monkeyfolk
The Vanara of the 3e OA might have taken their name from an actual race of Indian monkeyfolk (relatives of Hanuman, no less), but the archetype works perfectly well for Japanese/Chinese Fantasy setting. Why? Two words: Son Wukong. Aka, Son Goku. Aka, the Monkey of Journey to the West. He had a whole tribe of trained (but less stupidly overpowerful) monkeys at his home of the Mountain of Flowers & Fruit, so kung-fu fighting monkeyfolk are a perfect fit, in my opinion.

I use a monkey race in my campaign, with a bit of a twist, or perhaps a lack of a twist: they are literally just monkeys. Baboons, to be exact. No need to physically anthropomorphize them when they already have opposable thumbs. They've got human-level intelligence and can speak, but that's not so very rare among animals in fantasy. So some of them decide to start building towns and growing crops, and boom, you've got another civilized society.



One more idea I can offer from my own campaign is... well, I call them the shi ren because I'm running a fantasy China, but their Japanese counterparts might be called the komainu. Anthropomorphic guardian lion-dogs. Bound by ancient oaths and capable of smelling lies, fierce and mighty warriors but generally good-hearted -- perhaps natural rivals to the morally-suspect oni?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Spiky-haired Teen.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Well, if you're asking for my opinion, I'd be hesitant to use kitsune just because I don't want to give the creepy fanboys any encouragement. But setting that entirely subjective grudge aside, I think you're right on the money: the varieties of hengeyokai deserve to be distinct races. I might even question whether they need shapeshifting at all. D&D tends to strip down its playable races to the bare bones powerwise: dwarves and elves in Scandinavian folklore have a lot of magical abilities (in particular, the dwarf named Otter could almost be a hengeyokai), but the game would assume those come from their class levels or some other means. I'm not saying definitely not to give hengeyokai shapeshifting -- I'm saying that, if you're concerned about overpowering them, not giving them shapeshifting is an option.

I agree; hengeyokai (or, technically, Obake) should be built around the idea of being a magical animal-person race first and a shapeshifter second. That's the route that Pathfinder takes, and that's why its Kitsune is better than D&D's Fox Hengeyokai.

Again, like with the dwarves and elves and hengeyokai above, if oni are a playable race, it's easy to say that the oni of the Monster Manual with the potent magical abilities just has wizard or sorcerer levels -- literally an "ogre mage". As a race, I'd give them a knack for magic via an Int or Cha bonus, and otherwise make 'em look a lot like the half-orc or goliath as you say. Or, if the cone of cold is considered an iconic effect in D&D, then you've got a race with a Str and Cha bonus and a conical elemental attack... just reskin the dragonborn.

Agree; describing the MM Oni as basically an example of an oni with arcanist class levels makes the most sense.

One more idea I can offer from my own campaign is... well, I call them the shi ren because I'm running a fantasy China, but their Japanese counterparts might be called the komainu. Anthropomorphic guardian lion-dogs. Bound by ancient oaths and capable of smelling lies, fierce and mighty warriors but generally good-hearted -- perhaps natural rivals to the morally-suspect oni?

Hm. Interesting idea...

 

[Mallus]

Yokai, Oni, Nine-Tailed Foxes, monkey-folk... it looks like you've got all the bases covered.

Except for kaiju and Pokemon.

And if you include rabbit-folk, you could do worse than steal the Viera from Final Fantasy XII. But maybe change their mode of dress to something less embarrassing.

edit: also consider a few talking koi.

 

[steeldragons]

Humans
High Elves...as normal. Living in harmony with nature, master gardeners and elemental magic users. The first and all of the greatest Wu Jen who taught humans to use magic. Just dress them in asian garb using asian weapons.
Ergo, Half-elves, obvi...
Monkeyfolk (these are your wood elfy reclusive gnomish trickstery types)
Kitsune (those are the little fox shapeshifters?). They're your halflings. No reason to have all multiple races of shapeshifting animals.
Lung[dragon]born work. Make these guys your "master weaponsmiths" to fill the missing "dwarf" types.

6 options is a nice size [and diversity] for a beginning campaign.

If you want, add in...
Kappa -essentially make/treat them like water gnomes.
Tengu -the falcon folk ones.
Kenku - the raven folk ones.

I would reserve a race of "snake people"/Yuan-ti abomination style "Naga" and Oni (often assisted by the duplicitous kenku) for enemies.

 

[cbwjm]

An idea springs to mind, in 3e the rokugan book (maybe also the oriental adventures book) the clans were named after animals. You could make the clans actually anthropomorphised animals so the hare, lion, and crane clans can be made up of the hengeyokai races.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Spiky-haired Teen.

Don't we need a class that can summon monsters out of cards (with rules that get ever more complicated every year) for this to work?

 

[gyor]

Well, if you're asking for my opinion, I'd be hesitant to use kitsune just because I don't want to give the creepy fanboys any encouragement. But setting that entirely subjective grudge aside, I think you're right on the money: the varieties of hengeyokai deserve to be distinct races. I might even question whether they need shapeshifting at all. D&D tends to strip down its playable races to the bare bones powerwise: dwarves and elves in Scandinavian folklore have a lot of magical abilities (in particular, the dwarf named Otter could almost be a hengeyokai), but the game would assume those come from their class levels or some other means. I'm not saying definitely not to give hengeyokai shapeshifting -- I'm saying that, if you're concerned about overpowering them, not giving them shapeshifting is an option.


Again, like with the dwarves and elves and hengeyokai above, if oni are a playable race, it's easy to say that the oni of the Monster Manual with the potent magical abilities just has wizard or sorcerer levels -- literally an "ogre mage". As a race, I'd give them a knack for magic via an Int or Cha bonus, and otherwise make 'em look a lot like the half-orc or goliath as you say. Or, if the cone of cold is considered an iconic effect in D&D, then you've got a race with a Str and Cha bonus and a conical elemental attack... just reskin the dragonborn.


I use a monkey race in my campaign, with a bit of a twist, or perhaps a lack of a twist: they are literally just monkeys. Baboons, to be exact. No need to physically anthropomorphize them when they already have opposable thumbs. They've got human-level intelligence and can speak, but that's not so very rare among animals in fantasy. So some of them decide to start building towns and growing crops, and boom, you've got another civilized society.



One more idea I can offer from my own campaign is... well, I call them the shi ren because I'm running a fantasy China, but their Japanese counterparts might be called the komainu. Anthropomorphic guardian lion-dogs. Bound by ancient oaths and capable of smelling lies, fierce and mighty warriors but generally good-hearted -- perhaps natural rivals to the morally-suspect oni?

That's very judgemental.

 

[gyor]

You could think outside of the box, stuff that isn't drawn from Japanese mythology, but could fit inside it.

Like a race of cursed Samarui, or refugees from another high fantasy setting that are trying to adapt to a High Fantasy Culture, or even creatures based on the mythology of Japanese minorities like Ainu (apologies if I mispelled that).