OSR OSE Advanced Fantasy Races-not-as-Classes

[RealAlHazred]

So, I've got a homebrew setting that I'll be pitching to a couple of different groups in my area. I've been statting it out in a couple of different systems since the groups are very different: Fantasy Hero (Hero System 6th edition, a fully point-buy system) for my long-standing home group who've gotten very used to it, D&D 5th edition for the hobby shop group, and for the latter group I'd like to also pitch OSE since it's a much simpler D&D. I'm pretty sure they'll be interested in using the Advanced Fantasy rules, where they can choose a race and a class. I'm not averse to this, but what makes it trickier is that my setting has a lot of fairy tale influence. There are beastfolk and intelligent animals available as player choices, in addition to the 5th edition standards. So, I thought I'd make a list of options currently available for OSE. These are the Advanced Fantasy-style race-not-as-class options I've found:

OSE Advanced Fantasy - Genre Rules / Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome:

• Drow: deep elves, fallen from the light.
• Duergar: deep dwarves, twisted and cruel.
• Dwarf: short but powerfully-built demi-humans, dwelling in mountains or caverns
• Elf: tall and gracefully-formed demi-humans, dwelling in forests and under hills
• Gnome: short and mischievous demi-humans, fairty-tale craftsmen
• Half-Elf: a union of the best of human and elf
• Halfling: short and sedate demi-humans, at home in comfortable burrows
• Half-Orc: a union of the best of human and orc
• Human: the bog-standard local, it's unfair but they run everything
• Svirfneblin: deep gnomes, subtle and reclusive

Carcass Crawler Exclusive Inaugural Issue:

• Changeling: weird shapechanging race*
• Mutoid: MUTANTS! BURN THEM!
• Mycelian: weird fungus-men

Carcass Crawler Issue 1

• Gargantua: a playable demihuman race of “big people”
• Goblin: a classic monster species
• Hephaestan: a race of elf-like demihumans who practice the arts of telepathy and mind control (... Yes, Vulcans.)

Carcass Crawler Issue 2

• Phase Elf: an split-personality elf subrace.
• Wood Elf: a wilderness-dwelling elf subrace

Carcass Crawler Issue 3

• Dragonborn: powerful dragon-men
• Mutoid: MUTANTS! BURN THEM AGAIN!
• Mycelian: weird fungus-men
• Tiefling: menacing devil-men

Dolmenwood Player's Book (based on previews):

• Dolmenwood Elf: weird faerie-elves, less Tolkien, more Lord Dunsany
• Grimalkin: shapechanging small folk who change into cats
• Moss Dwarf: weird fungus-dwarves, less Tolkien, more Clark Ashton Smith
• Woodgrue: weird party-goblins, less Tolkien, more Grimm's Fairy Tales

Octhorrorfest!:

• Jack-o-kin: strange pumpkin-men, dwellers of the night

The High Moors:

• Bearfolk: large ursine humanoid farmers
• Goblin: small green-skinned humanoid tinkers

The Domain of Meru 1: Trypilia Land of the Seven Islands:

• Domvoi: shape-changing halflingesque people prone to epic heroism and epic depression
• Feya: born of water, forest or cloud these fey tend to nature and battle evil
• Kar: underground people who are compulsively greedy and clockwork smart

The Domain of Meru 2 Povitrya Isle of the Wind:

• Vetry: aerial race comprised of six species: Burivnyk, Litnyk, Siver, Stryga, Vitroico, Vitrylo
• Kazhennik: other-worlder that struggles with luck, controls cosmic winds and carries one special keepsake

OSR Alternative Classes From Third Kingdom Games (also collected in Into the Wild, note that these use many optional/house rules):

• Cerves Brave: deer-folk hunters
• Godborn: humanoids descended from angels or demons
• Ironskin (Sidernos): iron-skinned humanoids (might be a replacement for Eberron Warforged)
• Mochyn (Boar-folk): boar-people berserkers

Lost Classes: The Arnesonian Classes, by R.J. Thompson for Appendix N Entertainment

• Chimpanzee Folk: athletic, sage-like humanoid chimpanzees
• Duck Folk: flightless humanoid ducks (inspired by RuneQuest ducks)

The Leprechaun: A Class For Old-School Essentials, by R.J. Thompson for Appendix N Entertainment

• Leprechaun: tiny, fey humanoids

Are there any that I've missed? Does anybody have their own homebrew races; if so, I'd love to see them!

I made a version of the Aarakocra on my blog, because I love that race.

 

[kenada]

My homebrew setting has its own set of races. While there is some similarity to traditional races, the takes are different. This was my attempt at a conversion for OSE back when we gave it a try.

One idea particular to them is each race has a homeland benefit. If you happen to be from another race’s homeland, you could swap your homeland benefit for theirs. Mao in particular have no homeland and thus always pick from another’s.

I ended up going in a different direction when I shifted to a homebrew system (lighter on racial benefits and with a different take on racial ability score benefits), but that’s how I did things when we gave OSE a try.

This is an older take for PF2. 5e versions can be found on D&D Beyond. I have a copy of my homebrew system’s ancestries online, but it is woefully put of date, so I’ll refrain from sharing it for now.

 

[RealAlHazred]

My homebrew setting has its own set of races. While there is some similarity to traditional races, the takes are different. This was my attempt at a conversion for OSE back when we gave it a try.

I like that. I see you also tried to figure out how to do spells for race-not-as-class. FWIW, Gavin Norman has done that with his Dolmenwood Elves; since that setting is close to Faerie, the Elves gain some Faerie Charms. It's an interesting idea I will be stealing, as my home campaign setting is also close to Faerie.

 

[tsadkiel]

Don't burn the mutoids. They work just fine as assorted beastmen, depending on the "mutation" rolled - springy legs and enhanced hearing? It's a perfectly functional harengon/rabbit person. Claws and enhanced vision? Clearly it's an owlbearman!

 

[RealAlHazred]

Don't burn the mutoids. They work just fine as assorted beastmen, depending on the "mutation" rolled - springy legs and enhanced hearing? It's a perfectly functional harengon/rabbit person. Claws and enhanced vision? Clearly it's an owlbearman!

That was more in the lines of a joke. They're not a terrible race, though I would really like a larger list of mutations, as 6 leads to too many "unique mutants" looking identical, IMO.

 

[Voadam]

Not that I can think of any specifics, but Labyrinth Lord has an advanced version as well with race as not-class so there might be more options from that expanded pool of compatible products.