I have a question in regards to the races in a Greyhawk game. Obviously there are the standards, what I am really interested in are the subraces. I have looked at the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer and it mentions numerous subraces for elves, and halflings etc. I plan on using the subraces from the FRCS to add this dimension to the game. Will this be unbalancing? Will this have a non-Greyhawk feel? (I have played a ton of Realms so am not too worried, I just don't want to go against the "feel" of Greyhawk too much).
Greyhawk Races Question
Davelozzi
Explorer
You can get most of what you need by using the Ability Scores for Monsters rules on p 23 of the DMG with the average ability scores for the subraces in the Monster Manual, since they are the default (Greyhawk) subraces. Most of the races end up being similar to the FR subraces.
Grugach=use FR wild elves
Wood elves=use FR wood elves
Grey elves=+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str, -2 Con (or use FR sun elves which have the +2 Int and -2 Con but no Str or Dexx adjustments)
Drow=use FR drow (which actually represent the adjustment of female drow from the MM. Males have lower charisma but I would recomend against using this as an adjustment as it's not balanced).
High elves=standard PHB elves
Hill dwarves=standard PHB dwarves
Mountain dwarves=standard PHB dwarves (or use FR gold dwarves which get the usual +2 Con but suffer -2 to Dex instead of Charisma)
Duergar=use FR Duergar (Gray Dwarves)
Rock gnome=standard PHB gnome
Svifneblin=use FR svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes)
FR Halflings don't translate well into MM halfling subraces. However the MM subraces don't have any ability score adjustments and the racial traits seem to balance any extra advantages by removing a few standard advantages. You could probably use them as is without any problems.
Keep in mind that the more powerful subraces have ECLs (+2 for Drow and Duergar and +3 for Svirfneblin).
Grugach=use FR wild elves
Wood elves=use FR wood elves
Grey elves=+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str, -2 Con (or use FR sun elves which have the +2 Int and -2 Con but no Str or Dexx adjustments)
Drow=use FR drow (which actually represent the adjustment of female drow from the MM. Males have lower charisma but I would recomend against using this as an adjustment as it's not balanced).
High elves=standard PHB elves
Hill dwarves=standard PHB dwarves
Mountain dwarves=standard PHB dwarves (or use FR gold dwarves which get the usual +2 Con but suffer -2 to Dex instead of Charisma)
Duergar=use FR Duergar (Gray Dwarves)
Rock gnome=standard PHB gnome
Svifneblin=use FR svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes)
FR Halflings don't translate well into MM halfling subraces. However the MM subraces don't have any ability score adjustments and the racial traits seem to balance any extra advantages by removing a few standard advantages. You could probably use them as is without any problems.
Keep in mind that the more powerful subraces have ECLs (+2 for Drow and Duergar and +3 for Svirfneblin).
The Green Man
First Post
Davelozzi said:
What of Valley Elves? Would they be equivalent to Wild Elves, or a new subspecies entirely?
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
The Green Man said:
Valley Elf stats were in Living Greyhawk Journal #2 but I can't remember what they wre off hand.
I really advise against using Valley Elves as a PC race. They are pretty isolationist, rarely if ever leaving the Valley of the Mage, and they are despised by just about every other race in the Flanaess. They make good bad guys, but like the Drow, I really think they are best left as monsters.
I'm also not sure if the FR Wild Elves are the ideal match for Grugach. They just aren't primitive and barbaric enough for me. I picture Grugach being very feral and savage, not just 'super wood elves'. I've written a couple fairly detailed theories on different things about the grugach in GH for the greytalk mailing list. You should be able to find them, and other people's take on Grugach, by searching the Greytalk archive, at http://www.greycitadel.com/greycitadel/greytalk.nsf
I'm all for introducing new races into GH though, I've adapted Tieflings and Aasimar and Genasi over the last few years (on a small scale mixed in with their human parent's community.) and right not I'm adapting Pekwae (from Sovereign Stone) in, so no, I don't think tinkering with the races "unbalances" greyhawk at all, thopugh you might have to toy with the histories of places and people a bit if you radically change the racial makeup of an area.
I'm also not sure if the FR Wild Elves are the ideal match for Grugach. They just aren't primitive and barbaric enough for me. I picture Grugach being very feral and savage, not just 'super wood elves'. I've written a couple fairly detailed theories on different things about the grugach in GH for the greytalk mailing list. You should be able to find them, and other people's take on Grugach, by searching the Greytalk archive, at http://www.greycitadel.com/greycitadel/greytalk.nsf
I'm all for introducing new races into GH though, I've adapted Tieflings and Aasimar and Genasi over the last few years (on a small scale mixed in with their human parent's community.) and right not I'm adapting Pekwae (from Sovereign Stone) in, so no, I don't think tinkering with the races "unbalances" greyhawk at all, thopugh you might have to toy with the histories of places and people a bit if you radically change the racial makeup of an area.
