Reflavoring Races

Here's what I did (in a nutshell):

Dwarves: Basically the same.

Elves: Live in the desert kingdoms; they have a high-magic culture ruled by an immortal god-king. Think Egyptian/Go'auld (Stargate) culture. They occupy a large empire and practice slavery. Jungle elves live further to the south (in the jungles, duh) and are closer to the Mayans/Aztecs (complete with living sacrifices).

Gnomes: Chinese culture. They're very isolationist, have a huge beauracracy with many ministries, and are (of course) inventors.

Halflings: Monastic, live in the mountains and follow the path to spiritual perfection. Halflings and hobogoblins (see below) are the only ones who know martial arts, though they will teach others.

Half-elves: Offspring of humans and elves; often serve as go-betweens for the two races, who are not always on the best of terms. Some half-elves are slaves in the elven empire.

Humans: Roman culture. They occupy another large empire, which is constantly warring with the elves, the gnolls, and the half-orcs, among others. There are also a few other human nations scattered around with other cultural bents.

Half-orcs: Offspring of humans/orcs, either resulting from raids into human territory or consenting relations between borderlander humans and orcs.

Gnolls: Persian/Chaldaean. They are THE premier fighting force of the world, and often hire themselves out as mercenaries.

Hobgoblins: Japanese. Highly structured, very disciplined, and not often seen.

Orcs: Norse culture. Odin is their version of Gruumsh (I didn't realize the similarity until after I'd fleshed them out). They live in the cold northern lands, making raids into the human empire.
 

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I love reskinning/reflavoring.

I like the idea of a magic-infused all-human campaign, where the diknown fferent races are actually just uniquely touched humans, almost superhero-esque. "Dwarf" or "Gnome" are not known races, but every once in a while a human is born with those traits. It cuts down on the need to gloss over the prejudice and racism issues, and ramps up the "heroes are special" aspect.
 

Elves who are actually alien Greys (you know- the skinny, big headed, pupil-less eyed guys from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, X-files, etc.). Their ship crashed hundreds of thousands of years ago, becoming covered by a mounded clearing in a forest. Their stasis fields (keeping them alive all those centuries) teleporters, image scramblers and account for legends of Underhill, how they dissapear in the woods, and how they are mighty enchanters...


Ooh, I love that! Also Kerrick's notion of Gruumsh-as-Odin and Orcs as Viking raiders!

My own tweak;
Elves As 1/2 elves are to elves, so are elves to an elder fey race that can't exist in this world without sickening and dying, being of otherworldy spirit-made-flesh, and unable to live long outside of the Seelie realms. Even the most arrogant better-than-thou speciest elven lord is but a bastard polluted with the blood of earthly creatures, and considered a rustic, rude and sullied cousin to the *true* elven lords. They produce half-elves quite deliberately, using them as a servant caste and go-betweens with the other worldly races (men, dwarves, etc.). Elves regard their racial penalty to Constitution as a sign of 'pure blood' from their otherworldly heritage, as their bodies have not fully crossed over from spirit to flesh. Like the anemic nobility of Europe, considering their infirmity a sign of royal blood, the elves take pride in frailty and poor health, considering the suspiciously healthy among themselves to be too full of mortal blood and too strongly tied to the ugly world of mud and flesh. Such people are considered 'rude' and crude and unattractive, and elven women are known to enhance their beauty in the eyes of other elves by ingesting small doses of poison to give themselves paler features and unhealthy drawn faces, signs of 'pure blood.'

Elves, befitting their fey heritage aren't just 'chaotic,' they are, by human standards, insane. They have (and desire) zero control over their emotions and their reactions, and can veer from manically enthusiastic to bloody-minded violence in a second, reacting to some perceived slight or threat that those around them might not even have noticed. An elven warrior lives the life of Elric of Melnibone, murdering those closest to him, as a result of his wildly out-of-control overreactions, and being just as likely to fall into an overwrought display of grief, regret and self-loathing seconds after brutally beating down an ally. Moments later, the storm of passions fades, and the elf looks down with cold, alien eyes at his former 'best friend' and goes on with his immortal life. Their fires burn hot, fast and all-too-briefly, making them seem almost like caricatures to human companions, who learn to stay out of sword's reach, as the elven passions may not be controlled, but they can at least be avoided, as they burn away as quickly as they flare up, allowing the non-elf time to get clear while the elf has his little freak-out. Attempts to 'tame' or restrain these passions within an elf are physically damaging, as toxins build up within the brains and bodies of the elf unable to vent their passions, causing their skin to darken until they enter a fatal stage called 'drow' in the elven tongue. Once the skin is dark from the toxic build-up, the elf enters a permanant state of crazed violence and sadism, and the state never ends. Rumors that entire communities of elves trapped in this state exist under the earth are, of course, nonsense. How could such a gathering even exist, as wild and frenzied as they are? Rubbish, really, the speaker says with a nervous laugh.
 
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In the setting I have been writing up fey covers those who are not human or hyberborean. Sort of like how in Star Wars the Sith were an actual race before they were a type of descriptor for jedi who have given in to the darkness of the force.

There used to be fey as in fairies, elves and what not. Although due to political actions all manner of species besides humans and hyberboreans sided with the fey and left when they did.
 


All this recent discussion of naming things like "Shardminds" in 4Ed gave me an idea for yet another reflavoring.

I had been thinking for years about playable races of stone-based life- one of those became the "carvin' dwarven" race mentioned upthread.

However, what about re-skinning the Warforged to be a crystalline race? They already have all the proper immunities, etc., so that doesn't need to be reworked. The name? Eh...who knows for now, Shardassians?:p Rockfellas?:confused: I'm sure I can think of something. Eventually.
 

However, what about re-skinning the Warforged to be a crystalline race? They already have all the proper immunities, etc., so that doesn't need to be reworked. The name? Eh...who knows for now, Shardassians?:p Rockfellas?:confused: I'm sure I can think of something. Eventually.

Sometimes simpler is better. Have the race call themselves 'Stone.'

"Wha-What are you!"

"We are Stone."

"I can see that! I mean what do you call yourselves?"

"We are Stone."

whispers to allies, "I don't think he understands me."

"I hear and understand. You are meat. We are Stone."
 

I will not lie to you- that has a certain appeal.

I can also foresee someone in our group (a bunch of Gen Xers who all love classic rock) intentionally paraphrasing the Doors' "Texas Radio and the Big Beat" for giggles...

Player 1: "So, you're Stone...are you immaculate? Do you live in forests of azure?"

Player 2: "They don't look like Negroes. And I can clearly see stars!"

:D

Now, whether the giggles would continue more than a month? Open question.
 

Devas look like regular humans and are born to regular human families, growing up in their human societies. They simply have a reincarnated soul that is favored by a particular divine entity. Only one in a thousand or so human children born are devas, and often many do not even know/understand their true nature, figuring that they simply have very vivid dreams, etc (which are really memories from past life incarnations); essentially, devas are a subset of humans.

Exactly what we did in my campaign! ;)

Player wanted to be a Deva... I said, "well, there are no Deva's... but are you cool with mechanically being one, but physically being a human? - you just have this past life, etc" - he was totally fine with that.

The other tweak I made to this is that he had 1 past life, not a thousand, etc.
 

Exactly what we did in my campaign! ;)

Player wanted to be a Deva... I said, "well, there are no Deva's... but are you cool with mechanically being one, but physically being a human? - you just have this past life, etc" - he was totally fine with that.

The other tweak I made to this is that he had 1 past life, not a thousand, etc.

I wanted to do something similar once.. play a human child (thief) physically, but have the mechanical benefits of a halfling. Makes sense to me.
 

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