Advice needed for Human only setting

Tzi

First Post
So I am eagerly working to construct a campaign setting that is populated by humans as the main sapient race. That is to say the world is more like Conan the Barbarian, or the works of JRR Martin. While still using the Pathfinder rules, I'd like to keep things fairly simple in the race selection and keep it at just Homo Sapiens.

The inspiration for this setting is the early Iron Age, late Bronze age and I am going for that ancient world feel, so things like a halfling, dwarf or an elf would be a extremely rare mythic being one might encounter but not actually a playable race. Elves would essentially be fey celestial things, the same with dwarves and halflings.

So far I want to use the baseline human racial traits already in the pathfinder rules, but instead of two traits you get three, the third having to be specific to your characters country of origin or place one was raised. So basically you can pick two traits, and then the regional trait table is where you pick a third trait.

There would also be the option of trading in the first level bonus feat that comes with being human in exchange for say being small sized (Alla Tyrion Lannister) or a few select bloodlines similar to the Sorcerer bloodlines that would give some boosts like say a vampiric bloodline would give one teeth allowing them to feed on a recently dead corporeal creature that has blood. Or a Demonic bloodline for those whose ancestry is tainted by demons. For balance reasons sorcerers do not have access to these types of bloodlines as they already get one via class feature.

Your probably asking, Why no elves, dwarves, lizardfolk? Well the simple reason is that its the DM's (Me) preference, the longer explanations are that I'd rather have lore that explains the origins of one sapient mortal race as opposed to a bajillion and finally I get tired of all the Assimar clerics, Elf Wizards and picking races solely for stat boosts.

My main question is, would this seem balanced?
 
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It all depends on what the traits are and what the bloodlines are. It is really difficult to judge balance on something without the specific rules spelled out for them.
 

You shouldn't have any problems with balance at all. Characters will be about half a feat stronger, which shouldn't even be noticeable.

I'm not sure how many traits you're adding, but I personally shoot for three or four to a culture. That's enough to tell the culture's story and include most culture's major classes and noteworthy groups. Limiting a sparse or homogenous culture to one trait also tells a story of sorts, which I like.

For the bloodline options, these seem more like supertraits than feats. I'd suggest that they cost two traits rather than necessarily costing a feat. And, if people want, they can use the Additional Traits feat.

Cheers!
Kinak
 

Based on absolutely nothing but race - humans - yes, it would be balanced. By its very nature it'd be so as there is nothing but the human for a human to be measured against.

But ya, once you start adding in all the homebrew stuff, such as those bloodlines and the traits, there is no way of knowing what is balanced as there is nothing for us to compare.
 

This is not mechanical advice, but I highly recommend checking out Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles and Saxon Stories. They are absolutely packed with inspiration for this kind of world.

I'm running a campaign like this, and it absolutely feels balanced and right.

To bring in another medium, Magic: The Gathering's world usually have elves, goblins, and whatnot. The latest world, Innistrad, has humans and monsters only, and it works really well. It's a very different feel, one that I'm very fond of.
 


Iron Heroes has a lot of traits that you could use. It is a few years old now, but shouldn't be hard to find and purchase the pdf.
Iron Heroes is great for traits, but keep in mind that their traits are (typically) way more powerful than Pathfinder's. Some are easily a feat or more on their own, while others are like two Pathfinder traits stapled together.

Great for inspiration, just be careful which ones you import directly.

Cheers!
Kinak
 

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