Humans - the missing monster entry for the MM

[Winterthorn]

Hello, I did this as an add-on to the core 3E MM. I thought it strange that humans were were the only PC race not in the MM and so I drew this up complete with the fluff and flavour. I was also inspired by the fact that humans, as "Men", appeared in Basic D&D, AD&D 1st Ed and AD&D 2nd Ed Monster Manuals. I could add more as older editions went into very specified groups stats for encounters - perhaps I'll leave that for some else who's creative

Without further ado, enjoy:

Human​

Humans, of all the humanoid races, are the most diverse in appearance, ethnicity, demeanor and motive. This is the mortal race most likely to produce many individuals of incredible prowess, wealth and influence - something the deities and outsiders of the multiverse are quick to notice.​

Humans stand from 5 to 7 feet tall and usually weigh between 100 to 250 pounds. They have skin tones from snowy flesh to ebony brown and eyes from the palest of blue to bright green to deepest black. Their hair can range from light blond to bright rust red to pure jet black. As they mature, men usually sport various styles of facial hair, while women tie up their hair and often in intricate fashions. Both sexes are known to wear jewelry although it is more common for women to do so. Of course such things can vary greatly by culture and social station; humans adapt their grooming and attire according to the climate, norms and fashion of the communities where they live. They often like to show-off their possessions regardless of their economic status in life.​

Perhaps to compensate for fact that human life-spans are shorter compared to the other common races, humans are fast learners and can develop considerable skill in almost any endeavour they pursue. They are also the most ambitious, audacious, bold, inquisitive, resourceful, stubborn and unpredictable of all the humanoids. While many individuals are extreme in their alignment, the majority of humans are not; although, it should be noted that those who've gained exceptional accomplishments and reputation are rarely just neutral.​

Humans speak common.​

Most humans encountered outside their homes are explorers, merchant-traders, or warriors; the information in the statistics block is for a warrior of 1st level - one who could be a guardsman, a mercenary, or just a trained thug.​

Human, 1st-Level Warrior
Medium Humanoid (Human)
Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+4 chain shirt, +1 light shield), touch 10, flat-footed 15
Base/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Longsword +3 melee (1d8+1/19-20) or shortbow +1 ranged (1d6/x3)
Full Attack: Longsword +3 melee (1d8+1/19-20) or shortbow +1 ranged (1d6/x3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: none
Special Qualities: none
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will -1
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8
Skills: Climb +1, Handle Animal +0, Intimidate +0, Jump +1, Ride +2, Swim -1
Feats: Weapon Focus (longsword), Mounted Combat
Environment: Temperate plains
Organization: Squad (2-5), troop (6-10 plus 1 2nd-level sergeant and 1 4th-level leader plus 0-4 hounds), levy (11-20 plus 2 3rd-level sergeants and 1 leader of 4th to 6th level plus 2-10 hounds and a dozen horses), clan (25-60 plus 80% noncombatants plus 1 3rd-level sergeant per 20 adults, 2 5th-level lieutenants, 1 7th-level captain, 6-24 hounds and guard dogs, and 3 dozen horses)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +0

COMBAT

Of all the mortal races, humans are the masters of basic battlefield strategy and tactics. Regardless whether other races taught humans how to fight, humans were certainly quick to perfect the art of warfare.​

Artilliary, cavalry and soldiery are the principle components that form human armies. Those that master the art of combined arms often win the day; most organized human armies have thusly prevailed against humanoid invasions, and many allies of the humans are greatful for it!​

As individuals, whatever humans lack in special attacks and abilities, they make up in tactical cleverness. Humans may be easily surprised and caught off-guard, but they can fight back with a tenacious cunning rarely surpassed by other humanoids caught in similar circumstances. As a race, humans have no tolerance for being humiliated by their enemies - even if those enemies are other humans! Rebellions against tyranny are inevitable; perhaps it is a consequence of their shorter life spans, but even through kith and kin humans always fight back. Thus it is common for humans who gain experience to develop a diversity of skills and feats favouring combat, espionage, and/or survival.​

HUMAN SOCIETY

The vast majority of humans live in feudal societies, but some live in clans or tribes led by powerful leaders and their families. Social station and family wealth govern personal power and most humans live simple day-to-day lives working fields, guildhouses and mines for the merchants, clergy and nobility who rule. As a result, humans are usually citizens of one human kingdom or another and most of their leaders are vassals to a higher authority. Some human societies afford greater freedom to individuals than others - this typically depends upon the outlook of kings or queens and the attitude of the court of vassals vying for their favour.​

Humans are known to eek out successful lives and cultures almost anywhere but underground or aquatic environments; most build their communities, indeed whole empires, on great temperate plains with access to rivers and coastal waters. Their communities appear in all sizes and large urban environments are common to this race. They build long roads and highways, great bridges, majestic castles and impressive fortifications while at the same time they sail the seas in tall ships, harvest the great forests, farm fertile lands, build levees to control waterways, and dig mines in hills and mountains. Needless to say humans come into contact - and often conflict - with many other races. Frequently humans must defend their developed lands against marauding humanoid tribes - particularly when the savage humanoids are not feuding with each other.​

Human cultural values can vary greatly, and chauvanism is a common failing between classes, castes, and even between men and women. Nonetheless, the human capacity for generosity and diplomatic accumen has earned them a reputation as a race worthy to befriend. Halflings and gnomes are usually accepted in human communities, while dwarves and elves can easily impress humans with their respective racial skills and talents. When intents are earnest, the common races work well with humans - this is most true regarding adventuring parties. However, there are also recorded moments in history of rather stellar results when humans led multi-racial armies! Sadly, humans are also prone to fighting amongst themselves, and in those times it is wisest for other races to avoid being involved.​

From the beginning of time humans domesticated many kinds of animals, and they became especially fond of training dogs and horses for labour, warfare, and sport.​

Human Traits (Ex): Humans possess the following racial traits.
---- Medium size.
---- A human's base land speed is 30 feet.
---- 1 extra feat at 1st level.
---- 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point per additional level.
---- Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Any.
---- Favored Class. Any.

The human warrior presented here had the following ability scores: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8.​

There ya go folks. Sorry about the line and paragraph formating, I cannot emulate the 3E Monster Manual format here as a well as I can on my PC.

Now all one has to do is copy this and insert it as looseleaf addendum in your book or binder

 

[Nifft]

My god! This is what my game's been missing! Humans!

(Seriously, though, who would need this? Humans are presented well in the PHB.)

Things to fix: don't use ellipses in write-ups. Treat the write-up as though it were any other formal document.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Winterthorn]

I needed to publish this to share and get it out my system...

This was done for completeness: if Elves and Dwarves and Halflings are in the MM why shouldn't Humans be there as well? (Again, consider what was done in earlier editions of D&D.) I'm not doing anything new - just filling a gap that bugs me as a perfectionist DM. This isn't for players...

Ellipses? I used the awkward

because basic tabs don't work here and I cannot even use the space bar to emulate tabs. So I cannot get a paragraph indent the normal way. I could've simplified the format (sans indents) but I wanted to see what I could accomplish with the site features - oh well.

I'm also really tried now that it's 3am... or should I say I'm Fatigued and Ability Damaged ​

 

[Hand of Horus]

Ellipses are three dots. Like this...

 

[Emirikol]

Thanks for doing this. I too felt that humans should have had a LARGE entry in the MM. Humans are NOT well represented in either the DMG or the PHB (with the latter being only a 1st level entry). As a DM, I'm consistenly annoyed at how the DMG didn't have a human entry for their sample NPC's. I'm not ever in the mood to have to do even MORE work to prep a game and that includes having to pretend I'm a player and have all the bonuses and crap memorized for non-human PHB races so I can recalculate stats for a dang encounter.

I'm really hoping 4E actually does some sample barbarians, ftr, rog and others for every other level so I have something to throw at the PC's other than the zoo of uncreative statistical variation "monster" encounters that is currently the norm.

jh

..

 

[Tonguez]

why swim -1?

I might change some of the description but otherwise nice

 

[nobodez]

why swim -1?

I might change some of the description but otherwise nice

that would be the armor check penalty from the chain shirt and the light shield.

 

[Winterthorn]

Thank you folks!

@ Hand of Horus: Well I'll be I totally forgot from a long time ago that indeed "..." is called that. I've developed the bad habit of using "..." to mean "and so on"

@ Emirikol: Thank you for your feedback; I was beginning to feel I was alone on this matter. I agree a thorough rules treatment of humanity in a core MM is a very useful time saving measure for DM's, and I think it also helps new DMs to get into a medieval-fantasy headspace about how humans fit into the game in comparison to the rest of the critters found in the manual. I have seen that Races of Destiny covers humans in more detail, as well as do many published settings, but I've always felt the 3E MM should have had something useful for DM's at the start.

What I find irksome is even after many tweaks and edits, and then posting this blurb on the forum, I still want to edit some more! Maybe it's easier to proof-read and edit the work of others, but editting my own work seems a neverending exercise! **sigh**

update: ooo I was still able to make edits! So I've just polished the OP text a bit to flow better in some spots.

 

[Thondor]

Dude this is totally awesome. I to was greatly troubled by the lack of a Human entry in the MM. And you did a quality job.

I just printed it off.

 

[occam]

That's weird: I don't recall what triggered, but I've just been wondering the last few days about the lack of an entry for humans in the MM. Great job of it, too!