Are these races balanced?

[LessthanReal]

This world has three primary races that developed separately, through wholly natural means. The races are Humans, Elves, and Gnomes. Each race developed on one of the four main continents, with the last being mostly uninhabited until the last century or so.

Elves are the race native to the southern continent, and have tan to dark skin. Their hair runs the gamut of colors, but their eyes are all blue. The depth of the color varies widely though, from a very light blue to a dark almost black blue. Elves live between 260 to 300 years old. The elves have a streak of ruthlessness, and it shows in their culture. In recent years, they have turned from war to business. Most young elves try to get into the more prestigious careers, either as businessmen or lawyers. Those who do not make it in the business world become enforcers- a dangerous occupation in a world where corporate warfare can be very real- or simply low level employees. Those who cannot even fit in there are often exiled.

Elves:
Medium Size, Base speed 30 ft
+2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Elves can sell ice to eskimos, but they have a bad habit of leaping before they look.
+2 to listen checks. Elves have somewhat sharper ears than the other races.
One of the following feats: Personal Weapons Profieciency, Trustworthy, or Attentive.
+2 to one of the following skills: Knowledge(Business, Civics, or Streetwise) or Gather Information.

Gnomes inhabit the northernmost continent. THey have light skin and dark hair. Their eyes can be many colors, but there is a strong tendency towards green eyes. Gnomes live to be between 140 and 160 years old. The gnomes have a technocratic society, and scientists stand at the top rung of the social order. Those who test the limits of science are the greatest amongst them, but those who design devices to take advantage of the advances are next highest. As one goes down the ladder, the jobs become more and more manual, from mid grade mechanics to low grade laborers. However, since schools are well funded and universal, there is great mobility between generations. While most gnomes have a place decided for them after they get out of schools, the next generation ends up wherever their abilities land them.

Gnome
Small Size, base speed is 20 ft.
+2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution. Gnomes are smart, but frail.
Gnomes get a +2 to Research checks. The schools emphasize research method.
One of the following feats: Gearhead, Educated, Personal Firearms Profieciency.
Gnomes get +2 to one of the following skills: Knowledge[Physical Sciences or Technology] or Craft[Chemical, Electronic, mechanical, pharmaceutical, or structural]

The humans are the normal PHB humans.

Are these balanced? Any critique is welcomed...

 

[neoweasel]

What sorts of FX exist in this world? If there is a form of power that is based off of CHA or INT I'd say you might want to reconsider. Otherwise, I don't see that there is any problem as long as you remember to reduce the Skill Points per Level by one for the Gnome and the Elf. The races are actually a little weaker because they give up flexibility, and for benefits that are no more powerful than the +1 Feat, +1 Skill Point per Level.

 

[LessthanReal]

There is FX in the world, using the UA rules. That means that there are some tied to Cha and some tied to Int...

Frankly, though, I think that the spellcasting classes in UA are fairly weak,and mostly only good for character flavor...

However, I will consider what you said.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I think they sound balanced, nothing to flash or overpowered.

 

[Pierce]

From a min/max perspective:

I would drop the Personal Weapons Prof. from both lists. 9 times out of 10 players take this feat as one of their two starting feats. Therefore the only benefit you get for being human is the extra skill point. You trade that off with the +2 to two skills and a potential 20 in INT/CHA and there's no real reason to be anything but and Elf or Gnome. Plus, if you're a gnome, the bonus to INT delivers the extra skill point - though the -2 CON does hurt. Again, this is a min/max tactic. If you've got a good group of RPers, this isn't a big deal.

All that said, I like the background for both. Just enough of the traditional flavor (especially for the gnomes) to evoke the idea of the race while still different enough to be tasty. The only minor disjunction I see is that if Gnomes (at the basest castes) are manual laborers, why give a CON penalty? Shouldn't these laborers be in fairly good health? Or do they just get bunches of sick days ?

Good work.

 

[LessthanReal]

Point taken on that first one. I'm going to drop the Personal Weapons Profieciency from the feat choices.

As for the second one, I'll take it into consideration. I may either change the drop stat(-2 to Strength instead of Con, though in Modern I think Con's a bigger and better spot to hit with the bonuses they get...) or change the background.

Not sure which yet. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Pierce]

Not sure which yet. Thanks for the feedback!

No problem. Our group is currently toying with ideas on the complete revamping of all the fantasy races. These two give me some ideas to incorporate.