Coolest part of your homebrew?

[Asmor]

In mine, elves don't give birth, they produce seeds. These seeds grow into plants that produce pixies. These pixies live out their 80-year lifespans before forming coccoons which 'gestate' for a season before giving rise to adult elves. Half-elves can come about through the pairing of male elf/female human, but not vice versa. Thus: why are elves so linked to nature and magic; why are they so 'old' yet are functionally the same as a 20-ish year old human; why are there so few half-elves(house rule); why are said half-elves always raised by humans(house rule)?

This has been the first theory I've found that adequately answers these questions for me. Oh, and AFAIK, this is my own idea so no worries about the yoink police.

Elves as pixie butterflies?

HA! And I thought it was hard to play a macho elf before.

Man, it's kind of sad how hard it is for me to come up with anything remotely original about my setting.

Best I can come up with is the Darnash Forest, where space is warped by magical taint. Only elves and other creatures of the forest can navigate it; non-natives are doomed to be lost in an extra-dimensional "hedge maze" without a guide. The Elven capital is located in a hedge maze as well, meaning it's literally impossible for anyone to get there without the aid of an elf.

 

[Pell-Mell]

In the city of Asheril (the main city of my homebrew), the gargoyles have long since put aside their chaotic natures and formed a union to take advantage of their unique skills. The Watcher's Guild, as the group is known, provides surveillance and security for any willing to pay. They always make use of contracts that specifically describe the length, type, and extent of service. For a large fee, a gargoyle will defend the contract property to the death.

The most common contracts involve general security and the gargoyles will wade into battle to defend a property. However, if in battle they are nearing defeat (and are not contracted to fight to the death) they will yield to the intruders, stating their contract is fulfilled. They expect to be let go and it is common practice for intruders to give the defeated gargoyle some small bit of healing to assure that it can return to the Guild safely. Those who ignore the yielding of the gargoyle and slaughter it earn the wrath of all the gargoyles in city. The killers usually turn up dead shortly after, but the gargoyles are preternaturally patient and will wait years to extract their revenge if needed.

This being said, the gargoyles do understand that their occupation is hazardous and accidental deaths will occur. As long as the killer can convince the Watcher's Guild the death was not intentional and no sign of yielding was given, they can generally make financial restitution and avoid the ire of the gargoyles.

What exactly the gargoyles do with the monies they collect is unknown. It is speculated that they need it to manufacture more of their kind, for they are clearly not natural creatures but products of some ancient sorceries or forgotten sciences.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

In the city of Asheril (the main city of my homebrew), the gargoyles have long since put aside their chaotic natures and formed a union to take advantage of their unique skills...

I like that!

 

[Greg K]

I'd have to ask my players. Some possiblities include the following:

Dark Elves are not a subterannean race. They are a fierce voodoo practicing maritime culture. They are sailors with out peer engaging in piracy against the other nations.

The ongoing civil war that the pc's inadvertantely started between the dwarves and the theocracy that had given the dwarves refuge after an ancient red dragon drove them out of their subteranean homeland.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Shark-touched cannibals on islands in the Midworld Sea.

Shark-touched are from "beast touched" in my Demi-Humans as Templates thread (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=141007).

RC

 

[GlassJaw]

In the city of Asheril (the main city of my homebrew), the gargoyles have long since put aside their chaotic natures and formed a union to take advantage of their unique skills.

By far the coolest thing in this thread so far.

 

[Ry]

Shark-touched cannibals on islands in the Midworld Sea. Shark-touched are from "beast touched" in my Demi-Humans as Templates thread (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=141007).

I need these for the Great Hundred. In a casual, long-term kind of way.

 

[Rechan]

Reynard, that's pretty unique. Pell-Mell, I love that you did something with Gargoyles. I feel that they're just utterly neglected. Goblyn, that makes sense, I admit. I've seen several people tie elves to plants.

No comments on mine, just yet. Hrm.

 

[Asmor]

Reynard, that's pretty unique. Pell-Mell, I love that you did something with Gargoyles. I feel that they're just utterly neglected. Goblyn, that makes sense, I admit. I've seen several people tie elves to plants.

No comments on mine, just yet. Hrm.

I have a PC race of gargoyles called Daywalker Gargoyles, based off of Demona from the Gargoyles cartoon. Appear human by day, turn into gargoyles at night.

I agree though that as is, the gargoyles in the SRD are pretty boring.

 

[physics_ninja]

In my homebrew elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes and orcs are known of the Divine Races. The Divine Races were created and placed on the world according to each of their gods. Humans (for want of a better term) evolved naturally and had to create their own gods.

Whenever a Divine race mates with another Divine race the result is a new race that breeds true. Some examples;

 Halfling + dwarf = xeph
 Dwarf + gnome = goliath
 Elf + orc = drow
 halfling + orc = goblin
 elf + gnome = meaned

and so forth.

Human and divine races produce sterile half-breeds (half-elf, etc.). Various animal races (phanatons, bullywugs, etc.) come from the divine races influencing local animal populations through familiars, animal companions, awakened, and actual breeding over the centuries.

There are no warforged, but I did let one player play one (and see below).

Magic is split up into 6 types:

 divine (cleric and paladin)
 pagan (druid and ranger)
 hermitic (wizard and wu jen)
 psionic (psion, et al)
 goetic (sorcerer and bard)
 thaumaturgic (magister)

The first four are unchanged from the rules. Goetic means summoning and goetic practitioners must contact outsiders, elementals, spirits, etc. and make bargains to get their spells. (This is very much like the Warlock as described in CA. My warlock is actually a rune caster. Experts are debating if this should be hermitic or declared a 7th magic. But I digress.) Thaumaturgic magic is the Arcana Evolved variety and was discovered about 50 years ago by researches who thought that magical theory would be more elegant if there were 6 magics.

There actually is a 7th magic, eldritch, which are the corrupt and exalted spells from BoVD and BoED. Only one nation knows about it and they’re not telling.

The Divine races each worship their own pantheon. There is a human pantheon, but humans also follow dualism and monotheism. Interestingly, pantheists rejects the ideas of dualists and monotheists, while the dualists accept pantheists (because it fits into their view) but not monothiests, and the monotheists accept the others as merely flawed, but not invalid, ways of viewing religion.

The campaing is set during the 5th age, which started after the great flood and is the first time that dragons have been in the world.

Previous ages are:
 1st Forbidden Empires – lots of Lovecraftian goodness without dragons
 2nd Age of Reptiles - standard D&D with tortles, chelonians, skinks, lizard men, and ophidians replacing the standard PC races. But no dragons.
 3rd Bug Empires - Dromites, thri-kreen, and others insectile races. But no dragons.
 4th Mammal Empires – Elf, Dwarf, etc. But no Dragons
 5th Human Empires – Same as 4th but with Dragons (the present)

The ages are defined by the rise and fall of civilizations. At the end of each age the inhabitants are wiped out and there is an Interregnum ruled by Dragons. The Ages and Interregna are (or were) completely unaware of each other. So when the 5th age started it looked like dragons appeared out of nowhere and to the dragons it looked like Elves and humans appeared out of nowhere.

I mention the other ages because there is time travel from one age to another. The 6th Age has splintered timelines (because PCs have yet to resolve certain issues in the present) and currently the Elan, Illumians, Cybermen, mind flayers, and time lords are all fighting for survivial (and have sent NPC adventurers to make sure their history is the right history.).

So to sum up: What makes my campaign special?

 Lots of races, with a mechanic to explain the insane amount of speciation available
 Time travel
 That one warforged who came through a gate, got experimented on by grell, and is (or will be) the father of all Cybermen whether he likes it or not. (And I can’t wait to see the looks my player’s faces.)