Fluff Changes You've Made to PC Races

[Ringlerun]

I ran a game a few years ago were i had d&d races in a 1930's air race across the continental usa. I swapped magic with tech, so elves ended up being the great mechanics.

 

[Aeolius]

In other words, they et certain critters what let them change their colors and sting people painfully.

Don't forget bioluminescence. Some sea critters can expel glowing ink as a decoy against predators.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Despite aquatic critters use of bioluminescence for offense & defense, I usually reserve those stunts for my terrestrial insectoids.

 

[the Jester]

Shardminds were created tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago by an ancient empire of tabaxi who had their own psi- and radiation-based form of technology/magic. The only shardmind pc we've had was awakened from a long stasis. There is no connection whatsoever to the Living Gate or the Far Realms or any of that.

 

[SteelDraco]

Halflings in my campaign setting are transformed aberrations that decided they'd rather side with humanoids than other aberrations like mind flayers and aboleths. All aberrations are aliens that arrived on the setting on a psi-based magitek generation ship in the world's early history.

During the war that followed the arrival of the aberrations, the halflings decided they'd fight against the other aberration races. They altered their forms and became a Gypsy-like race of wanderers, and taught the humanoid races how to fight the aberrations. However, the change requires contact with other halflings. Without contact and occasional cultural rituals, halflings start to change back into their natural form, somewhere between a chupacabra and a bug-man.

The same setting has fluff changes to other races - goblins are a core race of merchants, orcs are voodoo dinosaur-riders, the dwarves are rather imperialist, lizardfolk are tropical island-dwellers, one of the human cultures is "Spain if Aztecs replaced Moorish influence", another is based on the Brother's War artificers from Magic.

 

[TarionzCousin]

In a Forgotten Realms campaign about ten years ago, one Evermeet elven player asserted that elves from "The Isle" didn't go to the bathroom. I instantly made it a truism in that game.

... and it actually factored in to a mystery over a year later.

 

[Stormonu]

In Amberos:

Elves are the offspring of the ancient gods during their daydreams. Elves do not age and die, but feel pulled to return to the dreamlands from where they were born. Since they are, in essence, waking dreams - elves do not sleep at all.

Dwarves were originally carved from stone and had life breathed into them by their parents. However, during a time of war against demonic forces, the god of the dwarves altered the race to reproduce like others - though many consider it to be shameful and go to great lengths to disguise the birth as the child still coming "from stone". They're also more based on being Germanic craftsmen than being Scottish (where did that Scottish stereotype come from anyways?)

Gnomes were engineered by the elves and dwarves as a servile race that was meant to ease relations between the two races. However, the gnomes ended up escalating tensions between the two races through their pranks until war broke out, and when the truth was discovered, they were banished from the presence of both races and had to make their own way in the world. However, they harbor little to no ill will towards elves or dwarves for something they firmly believe to be their own fault.

Where elves are the offspring of the daydreams of the gods, goblinoids are the spawn of the god's nightmares. Though outwardly fair, they were born with dark hearts. During the ancient days, they conspired with a goddess against the elves, and at the last moment, backed out of the deal. For this, the enraged goddess cursed the goblins so their twisted hearts would show upon their outward features, so they could never again hide their dark thoughts and deeds.

Dark elves come from those elves who aided the evil goddess against the elves. For their crimes against their own kind, the king of the elves placed a curse upon them that forever blackened their skin as a visible mark of their betrayal. Among the elves, the "black mark" is still a punishment used for the darkest sins among the elves - reserved for traitors and kinslayers.

 

[Elf Witch]

In my campaign dwarves are violent clannish hate anything do with magic. All babies are put out in the elements if they live they become part of the clan. Any deformed baby is put to death the same with an adult who should lose a limb. They war among themselves and for generations enslaved the gnomes. Warriors are everything non warriors are a lower caste and treated not as good.

Gnomes escaped and started their on homeland they run business started the banking system and have their fingers in every business pot in the land.

Kobolds are not evil and live in the same territory as dwarves they are often at war with them what helps them against their much stronger foe is their ability to make cunning traps and the powers of their sorcerers.

Elves. They are two types Dawn and Twilight. Dawn look like your standard high elf they live long lives. They have no magical ability at all because they took sides in a god war and their side lost. Instead they have developed strong mind powers. They live in a very structured culture think old Japan. They have strict codes of honor.

The Twilight elves look like drow but are not evil and don't live underground. They have some magic they were on the winning side. Their coloration comes from worshiping the moon goddess their dark skin is the night sky and their silver hair and eyes the stars in the heavens.

Halflings are gypsy like not trusted they move around in the wagons and are known for being thieves.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

dark elves have white hair and white skin.

Yeah, drow having black skin makes no sense from a biological standpoint.

The same setting has fluff changes to other races - goblins are a core race of merchants, orcs are voodoo dinosaur-riders, the dwarves are rather imperialist, lizardfolk are tropical island-dwellers, one of the human cultures is "Spain if Aztecs replaced Moorish influence", another is based on the Brother's War artificers from Magic.

Cool! Urza is the character I think of when I hear "artificer," and the Brothers' War is literally the only game-inspired novel that I haven't outgrown.

In a Forgotten Realms campaign about ten years ago, one Evermeet elven player asserted that elves from "The Isle" didn't go to the bathroom. I instantly made it a truism in that game.

... and it actually factored in to a mystery over a year later.

Elminster Holmes, and the case of of the clean toilet...?

In Amberos:

Elves are the offspring of the ancient gods during their daydreams. Elves do not age and die, but feel pulled to return to the dreamlands from where they were born. Since they are, in essence, waking dreams - elves do not sleep at all.

Ooh, I like this idea!

In my campaign dwarves are violent clannish hate anything do with magic. All babies are put out in the elements if they live they become part of the clan. Any deformed baby is put to death the same with an adult who should lose a limb. They war among themselves and for generations enslaved the gnomes. Warriors are everything non warriors are a lower caste and treated not as good.

So dwarves are dimunitive spartans, basically.

...I'm now reimagining 300.

 

[Nifft]

There are no male Elves. There are no female Dwarves. They fight in public because they're married to each other.

Cheers, -- N