Ethnic groups

[Kilmore]

I'm doing some work on my homebrew world, and I'm in the process of researching and if necessary, creating different ethnic groups. I've done some looking at online encyclopedias and such and to be honest, nobody's wanting to say what the difference is between people of african, east asian and european ancestory, much less any differences that exist between two relatively close ethnic groups such as the Pashtu and the Urdu.

I understand the possible concern about "racial profiling" and I understand that ethnicity is a tricky subject to talk about, but I'm just trying to populate my world. This is about the least abusive place I know online, and this is an issue all homebrewers face.

So if anyone has any resources they can help me out with or even advice on making relatively close groups distinctly different (hopefully with real world examples), I'd appreciate it.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

What exact differences do you mean? Strictly physical (that stuff should be easy to figure out) or the more complex cultural stuff?

 

[William Ronald]

I think Nyambe did a good job of showing different human cultural groups, without trying to tie differences to ability scores. (I don't think assigning ability score bonuses or penalties to different human ethnic groups is desirable.) You might want to decide what skills are preferred skills in a given culture. For example, Wilderness Lore (desert) might be a bonus skill or a preferred skill for members of a desert dwelling culture.

 

[Piratecat]

This is an incredibly sensitive subject. Tread lightly, folks, and show good judgment.

Thanks!

I think using regional feats is a great way to delineate cultural differences.

 

[William Ronald]

In addition to skills that focus on the environment, some cultures may place a strong emphasis on a given skill. For example, in a very religious culture, many people may have at least some ranks in knowledge religion. Or perform music, in the case of a culture which strongly prizes music. Horse nomads probably would put some emphasis in riding and animal handling.

I think the key is to figure out what skills are common in a culture, based on its environment and history.

Piratecat -- Thanks for the advice. I think we should all remember that we need to be respectful of others and their opinions. I agree with you on regional feats as a good way to differentiate culture. I don't know if the concept will make it into D&D 3.5, but I think it would make the game more interesting.

So, perhaps a tribe of horse nomads would have Skill Focus: Ride as a possible regional feat. Their neighbors in the desert might have Skill Focus: Wilderness Lore as a regional feat.

 

[KitanaVorr]

Tread very lightly.

I've seen too many ethnic discussions like this degenerate in my lifetime and have heard careless remarks that people have made without understanding the slurs involved. I don't expect people to be all PC and nutzo...but I do expect people to be respectful and realize stereotypes are wrong.

Anyway, my game, Gangs of Texas deals with racial ethnic problems, and it is a tough subject to breach...it was difficult during character creation enough.

The best thing to do when developing ethnicity in your game is just this...don't think of it as ethnicity...think of it as CULTURE. Don't think of it as physical according to someones ethnicity...think of the physical as a result of the environment that they live in.

Ability differences based on ethnicity are definitely not desirable...but there could be favored classes, favored skills depending on the culture and environment that the groups of people live in.

 

[Samothdm]

You might want to decide what skills are preferred skills in a given culture. For example, Wilderness Lore (desert) might be a bonus skill or a preferred skill for members of a desert dwelling culture.

This is how I did it in my homebrew, and I do the same thing for human and non-human races (e.g., dwarves or elves living in the desert would also get "Wilderness Lore (desert)" as a class skill, no matter what class they are).

The rest of the differences are all cultural (styles of dress, foods, family structure, and even things like hair styles). And, of course, religions.

Nyambe did do a great job with this. I think that Sovereign Stone also has a section on different "types" of humans, but I don't have that book. If I remember, correctly, though, it actually gives bonuses to abilities based on what the race is known for. I don't think it used "real world" examples but rather things like giving a bonus to dexterity or constitution for a race known for piracy or something like that.

 

[Krizzel]

Well, I don't have any real world examples, but I can tell you how I'm approaching this:

I have several different ethnicities for dwarves, elves, and humans in my homebrew. I generally draw a little bit of inspiration from groups on earth as you might use 'broad brush strokes' in painting (for example, I might pick a northern area and start by populating it with a 'norse/germanic' people). Then I go in and start adding details, trying to give each ethnicity a focus, but also giving related groups similar abilities - this is the 'small-brush detail work,' and I usually go by imagination here rather than real-world influence.

Good ways to differentiate the abilities of ethnicities: free weapon proficiencies (some of my elves substitute other stuff for long sword and bow freebies), skill bonuses (a culture in which horses are important might get a +2 to ride and/or handle animal), and favored class (again taking the elf example, some have ranger or cleric instead of wizard). You can also use the regional feat idea from FR.

Which brings me to the last part of my advice - look at what published settings do for ideas. Greyhawk, FR, and Kalamar (I believe - don't own it) all have different ethnicities in them, that are differentiated by more than just role-playing factors. I'm sure there are others I don't know of. You can't go too wrong by following their examples.

 

[Azure Trance]

Iron Kingdoms Character Primer has something like 12 or 16 different human groups. As an option, such groups can have ability score modifiers. The Barbaric men of the north get a +CON, the Horsemen to the south get a +STR, etc, etc. Some had a net gain of +2, others of +0 or -2, but again they were all optional.

Personally speaking, I don't see what's wrong with applying racial modifiers to different human groups in D&D as long as their culture justifies being more intelligent, or more wise, or more urbane.

 

[William Ronald]

So far, so good. I think the posters here are showing how to discuss this topic with class.

To work with my previous examples, ranger or barbarian might be favored classes for horse nomads or desert dwellers. For a culture that truly places a strong emphasis on music, bards might be a preferred class.

Culture should be very important for characters, as it can shape how they view the world around them. This has even been seen in mythology, where the Ancient Greeks imagined the world to be surrounded by an ocean. The ancient Persians, by contrast, generally viewed the world as surrounded by a ring of moutains, then a sea. (The ancient Persians lived in a more mountainous environment than their Greek counterparts.) Additionally, culture can shape how people react to their physical environment as well as other cultures.

I think the problem with applying bonuses or penalties to ability scores comes in when you try to simulate real world cultures. I would not even attempt to do that, and I would hesitate to do so in a fantasy world which would not closely simulate real world cultures.