D&D 5E PHB Setting Ideas

[Zardnaar]

Over on the Greyhawk type threads there's arguements about what races are allowed etc.

I actually don't mind most races as long as they make sense for the setting. No Drow on Darksun for example.

So here's the deal. The basic idea is to brainstorm a setting incorporating all of the PHB races built from the ground up.

Up to 4 other non PHB races can be added, doesn't matter what they are but the idea is to give the PCs a reasonable selection but without 30 or 49 races.
You are allowed to borrow concepts from other world's so if you like Eberrons Halfling s steal them.

Some thoughts.

Humans.
No real explaination needed.

Dwarves.

Dwarves are similar to ye olde D&D but they have gunpowder.

Elves.

High elves are not exactly nice but not outright evil. They're imperialists but they're motivated by the usual human motivations not evil Denon Lord or whatever. Wood elves are your more traditional CH tree huggers or Savannah elves.

Halflings.
Darksun and Eberron have the best ones, I would steal them

Dragonborn and Tieflings.

Might steal the 4E background here. Arkhosia might be like Rome.

Drow
Probably have them come from the sgadow lands or even another plane. Maybe good aligned, non Lolthites, sorcery and divine souls as the mechanics no longer lend themselves to wizards and clerics.

Half Orcs
Maybe Eberron style Orcs get away from the olde horde.

Gnomes. Maybe artificers but not insane like Dragonlance. Not comic relief.

Hal Elves. Out number Elves, very common in the Elven lands humans got used for erm pleasure.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

A land with no lands, with a bunch of flying islands, ala Skies of Arcadia/Skyward Sword

Human lives on the island, they craft bio-mechanical wings they fuse with their body as babies and they grow with them. ala Baten Kaitos

Dwarves mine clouds to harvest ether, they fly with ether-filed baloons attached to their back. Hills live on the low-hanging clouds, while the mountain dwarves harvest precious metal from the stars/meteors floating over the world.

Halfling are the result of the attempt of a cabal of mages to create smaller humans because of the lack of habitable lands. Not welcomed in many lands because of their reckleness demeanor (think the Tranquil from Dragon Age), they live as nomad on the back of the great dragon-whales who float in the Skies.

Created by the giants who forged the earth to serve as slaves alongside the dwarves before the human came aboard the Great Whale of Changing and freed them, the elves are one of the only people with ''reliable'' knowledge of the world before the Fall. They inhabit the old lair of their ancient masters.

High elves live, like the name says, on the highest islands in the Skies. They still use their magic lore to find a way to bring back the Earth.

Wood elves, or Samara elves grows magic trees and vines to link each island together. Some other race dont like this because they love the relative isolation of their island nations.

Dark elves live in the the Roots, the deepest cavers below each island, they live in monastic isolation in adoration of the elven gods of Earth, gems and funeral.

Tieflings have the feline natures of the rakshashas who destroyed the earth after making a pact with demon-lords. Despite the reputation of their ancestors, they are among the most trusted mercenary. As they say: ''Tieflings are born from pacts, it runs in their blood''.

Dragonborn were created as the gardians of skies, they protect the inhabitant of the Skies from the danger lurking in the floating ruins from before the Fall. They look more like ''whale'' than regular dragon: they have fin like arms and their breath comes from the hole on their heads.

Gnomes are elemental creatures coming from the shattered ley-lines from the Earth before the Fall. They have a special connection with what remains of the Earth itself and say they can hear it sing for them.

Half-Orcs are the result of human being corrupted by the Orc plague carried by the Scales of the Dark Ones. The orcs are born from the fallen ''scales'' covering evil-aligned fiendish whales (ala Sin from FFX). Like the True Orc, they have trouble controlling the burning rage in their veins, but they are still free to choose their own fate and are not bound to the mind of a Dark One like true Orcs.

 

[Zardnaar]

A land with no lands, with a bunch of flying islands, ala Skies of Arcadia/Skyward Sword

Human lives on the island, they craft bio-mechanical wings they fuse with their body as babies and they grow with them. ala Baten Kaitos

Dwarves mine clouds to harvest ether, they fly with ether-filed baloons attached to their back. Hills live on the low-hanging clouds, while the mountain dwarves harvest precious metal from the stars/meteors floating over the world.

Halfling are the result of the attempt of a cabal of mages to create smaller humans because of the lack of habitable lands. Not welcomed in many lands because of their reckleness demeanor (think the Tranquil from Dragon Age), they live as nomad on the back of the great dragon-whales who float in the Skies.

Created by the giants who forged the earth to serve as slaves alongside the dwarves before the human came aboard the Great Whale of Changing and freed them, the elves are one of the only people with ''reliable'' knowledge of the world before the Fall. They inhabit the old lair of their ancient masters.

High elves live, like the name says, on the highest islands in the Skies. They still use their magic lore to find a way to bring back the Earth.

Wood elves, or Samara elves grows magic trees and vines to link each island together. Some other race dont like this because they love the relative isolation of their island nations.

Dark elves live in the the Roots, the deepest cavers below each island, they live in monastic isolation in adoration of the elven gods of Earth, gems and funeral.

Tieflings have the feline natures of the rakshashas who destroyed the earth after making a pact with demon-lords. Despite the reputation of their ancestors, they are among the most trusted mercenary. As they say: ''Tieflings are born from pacts, it runs in their blood''.

Dragonborn were created as the gardians of skies, they protect the inhabitant of the Skies from the danger lurking in the floating ruins from before the Fall. They look more like ''whale'' than regular dragon: they have fin like arms and their breath comes from the hole on their heads.

Gnomes are elemental creatures coming from the shattered ley-lines from the Earth before the Fall. They have a special connection with what remains of the Earth itself and say they can hear it sing for them.

Half-Orcs are the result of human being corrupted by the Orc plague carried by the Scales of the Dark Ones. The orcs are born from the fallen ''scales'' covering evil-aligned fiendish whales (ala Sin from FFX). Like the True Orc, they have trouble controlling the burning rage in their veins, but they are still free to choose their own fate and are not bound to the mind of a Dark One like true Orcs.

I've been thinking of an air world off and on since the 90s.

Deathgate cycle was kinda fun.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I've been thinking of an air world off and on since the 90s.

Deathgate cycle was kinda fun.

Me too (well not the 90' because I was barely sentient maybe 2000') I so chicken with the idea of creating my own setting. I have a bunch of ideas, but I'm always convinced ''real'' setting are better than mine. Oh well...

 

[Zardnaar]

Me too (well not the 90' because I was barely sentient maybe 2000') I so chicken with the idea of creating my own setting. I have a bunch of ideas, but I'm always convinced ''real'' setting are better than mine. Oh well...

Yeah that's the downside comparing your work to professional stuff.

 

[generic]

Yeah that's the downside comparing your work to professional stuff.

Ah yes, 'professional' products, which are, as we all know, always playtested perfectly and carefully vetted.

 

[Zardnaar]

Ah yes, 'professional' products, which are, as we all know, always playtested perfectly and carefully vetted.

No I mean your hand drawn maps and a few pages compared to professional product.

 

[generic]

No I mean your hand drawn maps and a few pages compared to professional product.

My maps are graphed in a computerized program, and I have hundreds of pages of setting info, thank you very much!

My point was merely a joke.

 

[Zardnaar]

My maps are graphed in a computerized program, and I have hundreds of pages of setting info, thank you very much!

My point was merely a joke.

I found an old folder a few weeks ago. AD&D stuff.

Laugh away

Once upon a time I put more effort in. Specialty priests, selected splatbook material, new foes.

Don't think I'll be winning any RPG awards.

 

[aco175]

I have always had a problem explaining how all these races develop in the same areas along with all these monster humanoids. In Earth history we had the neanderthal and the cro-magnun that developed over time and for a while lived and interacted near each other but one subsumed the other or the neanderthals died off some other way. Now multiply this by 20-40 other humanoid races and it begins to feel awkward.

We can explain a lot with gods creating races and the traditional bit with dwarves living underground and elves living in woods and such. There can be traditional home regions and lands where humans originated and orcs developed along with them but they have been in conflict, eventually spreading out to other regions where other races have been developing. Maybe a rift or portal where another race is not trying to take over who might live there.