Races of YOUR World

[Fallen Seraph]

I posted this on the Wizards forums as well, but I thought there are a lot of DM's here in particular so would be fitting to post it here to.

Since not all of us are gonna be playing in PoL or in any of the campaign-settings and thus shall be making our own. So how do you plan to in your homebrew to deal with the Races; socially, historically, physically, etc.

For my World-Campaign I plan on doing this:

(PC) Races:
-Human
-Elf
-Eladrin
-Tiefling

(NPC) Races:
-Drow


(PC) Races:

Humans: Humans are the dominant race in the World. Most City-States are ruled and populated mainly by Humans. Humans are a industrious-people, most technological advances are thanks to humans, such as; steel-structures, electricity, telegraphs, steam-engines, gunpowder, photography, and clockwork mechanics.

They are however a very suspicious and superstitious people. They have little trust for those of magickal talent, and even less trust of other races. Though few races besides Tieflings willingly live amongst Humans.

Most Humans share common physical traits, with the natural range of skin-colour, eye-colour and hair-colour differences.

Elves: The Elven kind are rarely seen by Humans or other races. They choose to travel in caravans through wilderness areas, they have learned to stay on the move to keep alive.

Elves divided from their Eladrin cousins after the Incursion, they split with their cousins choosing the safety of the wild.

The Elvish culture is built around the caravan, each Elf-family has a devoted matriarch and devoted caravan-waggon. Ancestral-history is passed down through vocal-history and carvings on the waggons. Many young Elves to prove themselves and show their adulthood become scouts for the caravans.

Elves are pale of skin, with generally black or brown hair tinted with blue or green. They most commonly have blue, black or green eyes. They are the same height as a human, but of lighter build.

Eladrin: The Eladrin were once a mighty-culture of Feywild-Lords. Though they lost much when the Feywild collapsed they still reined over their new World-based towers and wielded mighty magic. They were allies of the Humans and had become restive in time.

Then came the Incursion, as they went out to fight they left their towers to the Humans. As they returned, battered and defeated against the aberrations of the Far Realm. They found themselves forced out of their towers and into the ghettos of the Human-cities. Now most Eladrin are poor-peasants, with little memory of their past glory; though magick still courses through their veins.

Eladrin are a head taller then humans, most are pale in colour like their Elf-cousins, but with sharper features and most have grey, white or silver hair. Their eyes are slightly reflective and give off a slight bluish glow.

Tieflings: Most Tieflings are lucky to survive to adulthood in this World. A Tiefling is a child born from either Human or Tiefling-parents who has been warped by the taint of the Far Realm. They are the only children not to cry from exposure to the aberrative-taint that permeates the World.

Many Tieflings die in childbirth, some die after because of fearful parents or left to die. Many become orphans thanks to this, those that do survive to adulthood face a world suspicious of them.

The Tieflings soon realize that they must adapt. Humans and other races, fear them for they are the sign of the World's tainting by the Far Realm (though few truly believe in aberrations and the Far Realm, they still fear it). The only reason Tieflings are not out-right banished or killed-off is because since they are born at random, it is hard to cull their numbers. Also it is said many Noble-families have Tieflings-children and wish not to see Noble blood spilt.

Tieflings can vary wildly, some look like ordinary Humans, others are quite different. Besides normal Human skin-tones, many Tieflings have; black, grey or white skin. Their deformations can develop in any number of ways, from; extra limbs, extra eyes, tentacles, tails, horns, etc.

(NPC) Races:

Drow: The Drow split from their Eladin and Elf-cousins long ago. When the First War raged on between the Aberrations of the Far Realm and the Gods.

The Drow's Goddess Lolth saw victory in the hands of the Far Realm. She called for her Drow to side with her, they did. Splitting the armies of the Feywild in two they lead the forces that began to collapse the Feywild into the still dormant and asleep World. Victory however did not come, as the Gods pushed back the Aberrations to the Far Realm the Drow fled to the World and to the deep Underdark.

They still worship and seek-counsel from the Goddess, and live in constant hate of the other Gods. With the Incursion they welcomed the Aberrations into their underground homes to plan and plot together.

The Drow have all black-skin a sign of the taint placed upon them through their Goddess. As she was flung into the Elemental Chaos by the other Gods, forming the Abyss and becoming the Demon-Goddess. They have all white-eyes that reflect the world around them, they are slightly shorter then a Human.

 

[Cadfan]

I don't consider the races of the world to be all that important in most cases. But, I believe that less is more in most cases. I believe that my ability as a DM to color in each race as an interesting culture that the players will want to experience is inversely related to how many races I attempt to color in at once.

So I let players play what they like, and then retro-engineer the world to include those races, plus whatever I feel I need for plot reasons.

 

[Cmarco]

Humans, dwarves, elves, eladrin, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs (after they show up on DDI), tieflings, dragonborn, drow, ... around here, we really like diversity and choice. There are probably going to be a lot more things added to the list, including (most likely, at least):
- orcs
- goblins
- hobgoblins...

...and probably more. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

 

[Masquerade]

I'll use my first campaign of the new edition to test out everything I can. That is, I intend to include all the PHB races, probably sticking more or less to the fluff presented in the book.

Oh, but I'll probably also find a place for gnomes and some other PC races from the MM, too.

 

[HeinorNY]

PC races:
-human
-elf
-eladrin
-halfling
-half-elf
-dwarf
-tiefling
-dragonborn

I may allow drow too.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Hmm... lets see here...

PC Races:

Human: The setting will start in a former border region of a recently collapsed human kingdom, so humans will be the most populous race in the area where the heroes begin. Nothing too special about them.

Elf: Elves are extremely secluded and xenophobic. They live deep in the forest, and anyone who trespasses on their domain meets a swift end. It is said that they have power over life and death, and are the wardens of the Shadowfell. Elf PCs will probably have to be a little less xenophobic than their brethren, for obvious reasons.

Dwarf: Dwarves are the second most common race in the area. There is a large and powerful dwarven nation near the area where the game starts, and many human communities have dwarves living in them (and the reverse is also true). Other than a few severe cultural changes among certain dwarf groups (namely a kingdom of tyrannical Bane-worshipping dwarves), most dwarves will be stereotypical.

Halfling: I'm still undecided, but I will probably use the default fluff and make them river-people. Nothing special about them either.

Eladrin: They will probably be mysterious and distant, mostly dwelling in the Feywild and only rarely entering the mortal world. Their impact on the land where the PCs would start the game would be subtle and unseen by recorded history. Eladrin PCs would be seen as a remarkable oddity.

Tiefling and Dragonborn: If a player wants to play one, that is perfectly fine, but unless that happens they probably won't show up in the early parts of the campaign, simply because I have no idea how to fit them in the starting region of the game.

Orc: Orcs have become quite numerous in the starting region in recent decades, and there is a history of tension and strife between them and the other races which have lived there for centuries. Still, there are places where orcs and humans coexist or even have respect for each other, and intermarriage between the two groups is not unheard of. As a whole, orcs tend to be strong willed warriors with a distinct "barbaric" culture rather alien to human or dwarven society, but they can be proud and honorable.

Other races:

Drow: I never liked them, so I will probably ignore them completely.

Goblins: Wicked little beasts that seem to infest every dark corner of the starting region.

Hobgoblins: The powerful hobgoblins have terrible cruelty and great ambition. Long ago, they even destroyed many of the ancient dwarven kingdoms, forcing the dwarves into exile from their ancient homelands.

 

[Dragonbait]

Some of the races I've had in my setting for some time, and WoTC comes and convieniently creates stats for 'em

Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Half-elves, Goblins (Merchanitle and wide-spread), Hobgoblins (Romans), Winged Humans (called Afarin. I might retrofit them to be counters to the Tieflings once they come out), Garou (The Wolfen from Confrontation), Zeph, Dragonborn (called kerrar), Orc, Oppe (lyrical frog men that no one ever played. I wanted to drop them but people apparently find 'charming' ), Genasi.

I'm thinking of adding:
Kalashtar, Drow (good aligned and non-ECL +2 to fill the role of the race of subterranean elves I created that could only speak in whispers), Tiefling.

Contrary to the lists above, I actually prefer a limited number of races so that each one keeps their identity.

 

[Jackelope King]

Lessee... in the world I want to run next...

Humans (Mideros)- Most humans are citizens of the city-state of Mideros, the Last Bastion of Free Humanity in the Endless Sea. Social classes within the City-State include nobles (First Blood, with historic bloodlines, tracing lineage to the Last King and capable of wielding one (or very rarely more) of the six harmonic magicks); priests (Second Blood, men and women dedicated to the Order of the Seven Saints, who are often trained to double as assassins in secret battles against the renegades; come from noble and common lineage); commoners (Third Blood, mostly farmers and laborers, but many also volunteer in the Legions as airship riflemen or apply for membership to a trade guild to better their lots)

Humans (Gypsies)- Free humans who refuse to pledge allegiance to Mideros, instead believing that their lost homeland will return from below the waves one day. Gypsies tend to live in the bellies of Mideros' airships, and are tolerated for their uncanny knowledge of the airships' inner-workings and of aerial navigation (savants and navigators, respectively). They are still looked down upon as thieves by humans in general.

Faceless- Believed to have once been human beings, the faceless possess the ability to reshape their own flesh and take the appearance of anyone they please. Few believe the faceless actually exist as anything more than an old commoner's myth. In truth, they work as infiltrators and elite assassins for the Church of Seven Saints.

Caminadors- Walking iron automatons designed by the Guild of Iron and driven by the same catalyzed steam technology which fuels the airships. Caminadors (literally "walking armors") are increasingly-sentient automatons designed almost exclusively for warfare as shock-troops aboard Mideros' airship fleet. They are, however, beginning to find more widespread use as laborers and guards for the noble families.

Humans (Maltisian)- Enslaved, dark-skinned humans on the Islands of Maltisia. Even when liberated by forces of the City-State of Mideros, Maltisians tend to remain slaves, put to work by Mideros' noble families. While terms vary from family to family, most nobles offer slaves a chance to earn their freedom after one decade of service to Mideros (five years if they volunteer for duty aboard airships). The conditions are usually expensive, but possible.

Ogre (Maltisian)- Hulking brutes, the Lords of Maltisia who cannot be killed unless drowned (as their flesh heals itself within minutes of being wounded). As Maltisian Ogres fear drowning, their reach does not extend beyond the Island of Maltisia (they have no airships or traditional navy). While brutish, Maltisian Ogres are not overly cruel to their slaves, using them only for labor and not entertainment.

Sarmosi- Fickle, flighty beasts, more beast than man, sarmosi are decidedly feline humanoids who delight in wanton cruelty and decadence. They have a fair armada of mercantile airships, which they use to trade luxury goods from the Sarmosa Islands with the Maltisian Ogres for human slaves (almost all of whom meet very unpleasant ends at the hands of their cruel masters).

Human (Exile)- To date, three noble families have been exiled from Mideros to make their own way among the Endless Sea for blaspheme excommunicae. The Eltio, the Nariol, and the Tandalín have formed an uneasy triumvirate to maintain control over their islands and the monstrous, inhuman creatures they've thrown their lots in with.

 

[Zaruthustran]

For me, it all depends on what the players want to play. Sometimes my even does character generation first, then builds the world around those characters.

So if one person wants to play a Dragonborn warlord, and wants to apply a mariner theme, then we may all decide that in this new homebrew there'll be a sea-faring nation with a significant Dragonborn population. That may spark another person to play a human warlock (feywild-esque pact) who's part of an indigenous culture recently "discovered" by the dragonborn conquistadors. And so on.

The other way works fine too: build the world, then create characters that fit within that world. If I did it that way, though, I'd craft something that would allow pretty much any race to be played. Certainly every PHB race; I imagine that the new races in particular will be popular, simply for the novelty. Of course, depending on how the PHB turns out, even Human could be a "new" race, from a mechanical standpoint.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Lessee... in the world I want to run next...
[snip of tons of cool stuff]

WOW! So, what's with all the water? What happened?