Reflavoring Races

[Mallus]

Our 4e campaign's homebrew setting uses quite a lot of racial re-flavoring.

Our Dragonborn have tails, the males mark enemies with certain --ahem-- bodily fluids, and once ruled a dystopian, statist steampunk/clockpunk Edwardian Roman empire called the Magna Publica Machina --the Great Machine of State. They also built the Warforged.

Our Tieflings are the former human slaves of far-flung Dragonborn colonists who gained their independence, and later an empire of their own, the Imperium Goetia, by secretly mastering the Infernal legal system and becoming a doubly-fallen race of half-demon lawyers.

Our Eladrin, Elves, and Drow are all the same race: the Fae. Their differences are philosophical, mainly involving the morality of dreams and the reality of the so-called 'mortal world'.

Our Shifters are essentially jihadist narcotics farming furries, kinda like the Afghan Taliban. If they were furries. You can blame one of my players for this one...

Our Shadar-Kai... "are children conceived in the brothels on the Other Side (ie, the Afterlife); half alive, half dead, belonging neither to this world nor the next but passing more or less freely between the two. Many act as intermediaries between the living and the dead, passing on the wishes of those caught in the machinations of the Eternal Bureaucracy to their surviving relatives."

We like re-flavoring!

 

[Chainsaw]

What to do when you want to offer your characters meaningful choices but want a human-centric campaign?

A guy in the 4E homebrew forum offered up pesonality parallels for each of the racial packages (sort of like your backgrounds) - that way you can still play with the crunch, but not diverge from an all-human campaign. I plan on using some of that at some point.

 

[Janx]

Here's some material, cut-n-pasted from my last campaign world's documentation. Some of it may refer to maps or materials not presented
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Tarans (humans)

The island of Tarai is the cradle of Taran civilization. The island is large and was home to many differing civilizations. Over the centuries, these civilizations have merged and become indistinguishable. The people of Tarai have distinct regional flavors, but as a whole, they are one. The government reflects this by recognizing a single sovereign. The military draws forces from all districts of Tarai, and the people as a whole are just beginning their exploration of the world. It is the isolation of Tarai that has allowed the people to develop culturally such that people to learn to live in peace. As we have recently learned from the Genari people, we are not alone. Other races exist in the world, and many of them spread out due to conflict and conquest. The Genari, whose people resemble gnomes from our children’s stories have been exploring the lands for centuries. Their lands lie to the north. The Bjorn, a former enemy of the Genari have lands to the north-east of Tarai. The Bjorn are also short of stature, but they more closely resemble the dwarves of ancient fable. Beyond that, little is known. The Genari have sold the Tarai several of their maps, when we made contact with them, just leagues from Tarai lands. These maps have given the people of Tarai a greater understanding of what is known, and what is not.

Laws of Tarai

The laws of Tarai are organized in a hierarchy call the Code of Laws. These laws are arranged such a way that military matters are handled independently of civilian matters. The basic code of laws, called the First Code can be summarized as follows:

Killing, except in self defense, is forbidden

Stealing is forbidden

Lying or breaking an oath is forbidden

Adultery is forbidden

Breaking local Codes is forbidden

Breaking the hierarchy of leadership is forbidden



Punishments vary based on the nature of the crime, generally ranging from fines, imprisonment, and death. The Wizard Code concerns all wizards and that sort, and details the workings of the Circle of Wizards:

All people skilled in Magic shall be members of the Circle of Wizards

All members of the Circle shall wear the symbols of membership


The Military Code comprises definition of the military, and details the handling of military justice and further outlines the chain of command. Primary details are that the military is ultimately responsible to the King, and the role of the military is to enforce policy, not to create policy.


Circle of Magic

This organization was founded in 1269, after the first individuals were discovered to possess these mystical powers. The Circle of Magic has enabled them to develop their powers safely as they become sorcerers and wizards. All magic wielding people are required to join the Circle of Magic. This ensures that no one secretly wields this power against another citizen of Tarai. Members of the circle can not serve in the military or in government positions. However, there are civilian posts they occupy, as advisers to government officials, as well as serving as Ship’s mages. The Circle cares for its members and ensures that Magic prospers. The Circle is All. The Circle is One.


Genari (Ambassador Delari profile and race briefing)

Name: Ambassador Molo Delari
Gender: Male
Race: Genari
Height: 3' 7"
Weight: 47 lbs

Molo Delari comes from an old and noble house in the Genari Republic. He spent some time in the military when he was younger. Since then, he has served in various roles representing the Emperor or Gentirum. His positions have not been notable, and in fact, his appointment to Cerentia 4 seems to be some kind of joke to his people. Delari has a decadent attitude, he drinks and gambles quite a bit. He can be quite charming and can regale you with tales of the old Republic.

Bjorn (Ambasador Gunnar profile and dwarf race briefing)

Name: Ambassador Gunnar
Gender: Male
Race: Bjorn
Height: 4' 2"
Weight: 145 lbs

Gunnar is a highly respected member of Bjorn society. Along with his appointment to Cerentia 4, Gunnar is a member of the Bjorn's ruling body, the KahRi. Gunnar was born during the Genari occupation of his homeland. He has a deep-seated dislike of the Genari and will likely take sides against them in most things. Gunnar is articulate and well spoken. He also has great combat experience, having participated in actively overthrowing the Genari during the occupation


Baran'G (Ambassador Sarel profile and elven race briefing)

Name: Ambassador Sarel
Gender: Female
Race: Baran’G
Height: 4' 7"
Weight: 92 lbs

Ambassador Sarel represents the Baran'G at Cerentia 4. She comes from the religious caste of her people and holds some rank there. Naturally, she is deeply religious. She has a postive outlook on life and has a calming influence on those around her. She has a great reverence for life and seems remorseful about the war.



Verani (Ambassador Voth profile & race briefing)

Name: Ambassador Voth
Gender: unknown
Race: Verani
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: unknown

Voth is a member of the enigmatic race known as the Verani. Little is known about Voth and even less is known about his race. All ships sent to investigate Verani waters have disappeared. The Verani has suggested that no more ships be sent.
The Verani seem to be aligned with the Baran'G, at least in the way of the great reverence and respect the Baran'G hold for them. If the Baran'G are an old race, then the Verani are ancient by comparison. The Verani wear heavy cloaks, where nothing can be seen of them. They say it is to protect their essence from our environment. It is suspected that the Verani may be non-corporeal, thereby using the cloaks to contain them. Given that none have seen a Verani, it is all just speculation.

 

[chintznibbles]

I'm fond of re-doing race fluff myself. I usually write up big, unnecessarily elaborate campaign setting documents full of the stuff that I'm fairly sure none of my players ever really want to read all that much of.

For my 4e game, which has entered a sort of perpetual "might start sometime soon!" state, I'm going with a sort of Fantasy Kitchen Sink approach (since the preponderance of 4e books appearing all at once sort of has that effect anyway), so I figured I might as well make the world a literal melting pot. A string of Planescape-y worlds, each reflections of each other, collapsed suddenly into one massive, chaotic world, blending together innumerable races, cultures and geographies.

Now, some twenty-odd years later, the world has finally begun settling down, social order reemerging around mysterious quasi-elemental entities known as the Powers. These Powers have sort of shaped the reality around them, defending it against chaos incursions, creating stable bubbles of city-state in which the multitudes of different races feel comfortable congregating.

Elves and humans come from the Middle Realm, the old boring Forgotten Realms-y Material Plane that no one really cared about. The Hyllken (Halflings) once dwelled there as well, but are now extinct.

The two worlds flanking it on the magical axis were the Wildlands, stuffed full of ley line power and home to Eladrin, Gnomes and Beastmen (shifters), and the Grey World (erff), almost magic-free and home to Dwarves, Orks (half-orcs) and Dragonborn. Yes, Dragonborn; you see, even lacking the magic that allowed them to thrive on other worlds, Dragons were too proud to just die out like they should. Over time, they trended smaller and smaller, eventually (perhaps subconsciously) coming to resemble the form of man.

Two other worlds flanked these two. Bordering the Grey World was Narvandier, a hellish, unfinished world, home to tieflings and their Demon employers, as well as a race of hardy mountain-dwelling Giants (Goliaths). Next to the Wildlands was Empyrea, a plane stuffed full of an overabundance of raw power, home to Devas, Angels, and eventually the Spellborn (Genasi), who were the result of standard mortals breeding in the overcharged atmosphere of Empyrea.

The campaign is going to be primarily exploration-focused, with such exotic locales as a long-lost three-foot-tall Hyllken ruin suddenly appearing in the middle of their city, a ruined Grey World office building (full of zombies, naturally), a malfunctioning tiefling technomantic transference station and more. The players may also get to work to gain the favor of one of hte Powers (or indeed, perhaps fight against them), settle disputes between warring factions of druids (Reclaimers, who want to undo the convergence, versus Wilders, who embrace the new chaos-infused version of nature) and maybe, just maybe, find out more about the mysteries behind their new world and the dark secrets let loose by the Convergence.

(If by some chance anyone wants to read it, here's my obsidian portal site: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/convergence )

 

[fba827]

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.

 

[Pig Champion]

We love to re-fluff.

So do we! Our Human creation story is that they were once all the kin of a Dragon king and his Queen who was a Earth Sprite. They both appeared "Human" in most of their dealings with their children and their children could turn into either dragon or have elemental features. Over time, this knowledge was lost but their heritage can still be found in "throwbacks" like the dragon-born and the gensai.

Our Elves are split into three distinct races. The High Elves live in a draconian utopia and are constantly warring with those who come close to their domain.

Mountain Elves have a distinct Apache feel. Their lands where first claimed by Dwarves and then by Orcs and now by Humans all of whom refuse to accept that the Elves were there first. They are highly hostile and masters of guerrilla tactics.

Drow are followers of the Dragon gods, the holy trinity, as they call them. Their legend says that for continued service they were bathed in holy fire and this is why they have burnt or black skin. Their society mirrors that of the Polynesian peoples with lots of fire rituals and tattooing.

Gnomes are a techno-savy race that are the children of Dwarves and Elves. Long ago it was common for Mountain Elves and Dwarves to marry, a kind of way to keep the peace amoungst them. These children are now known as Al-Guifur (the tinker) and are the source of the long standing Dwarf/Elf feud. They are the eternal single child and love to play their parents against each other.

Orcs and Goblins are pastoral nomads. They survive by raiding civilized cities and towns for food, horses and other animals. It's also a common practice for Orcs and Goblins to defeat and then take other nomadic peoples as spouses creating a slew of half breeds with some tribes membership being half-breed exclusive.

Bugbears have their own nation. They were once wandering nomads like the Orcs and Goblins until their great leader came to power. Forming a totalitarian ruling class, he forced all those not in his plan into an agricultural lifestyle where they farm, sleep, farm, sleep and then die to support the chosen ruling class.

Dwarves used to be giant moles whom Moradin crafted in his own image because they collected the jewels that he crafted his lover, the lady night stars, out of.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I do this a lot...my Bugbears taste like Watermelons.




What?

OH!

I do re-imagine races quite frequently, but I seldom get to use them to the fullest. I've mentioned several on these boards:

1. 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...
2. Elves who are part plant, truly one with The Green. I basically applied the Woodling template and took a few hints from Dragonstar's Galactic Races. I also made them true Fey.
3. Dwarves who are elementals. They carve each other from stone, and the kind of stone they are made from determines their favored class.
4. Warforged who are essentially D&D versions of the Daleks or Cyber-Men: their metal bodies house the brains of psionically active dwarves (minimum 1PP).
5. The Nephilim are my reworked Planetouched. "They were the hybrid offspring of fallen angels and human women." says one definition...but mine are the hybrid offspring of any sentient race and any extraplanar being. To pull that off, the Nephilim were designed as a racial character class, a la Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved RPG.
6. A size S, flying version of the Thri-Kreen. They are ultra-high dex, and favor spears/javelins rather than the gythka, etc., and can communicate by bioluminescence.

I've also enjoyed helping others at ENWorld reflavor or shuffle races for their campaigns, most notably suggesting:

1. Anthropomorphic Snapping Turtles, an amalgam of river-dwelling Halflings, the powerful physique of Dwarves, certain reptilian characteristics from Lizardmen and the business acumen of Ferengi. They are the master tradesmen of the lakes, rivers and freshwater wetlands.
   
2. Humans who ride Giant Flightless Birds- like axebeaks or real-world Moas- and have a culture analogous to those of the Plains Indians.
   
3. Reworked Kobolds who are arboreal, and have gliding membranes.
   
4. Using Alternity/D20 Modern Sesheyans as rulers of an Underdark empire- possibly as replacements for the Drow.

 

[Rechan]

Warforged who are essentially D&D versions of the Daleks or Cyber-Men: their metal bodies house the brains of psionically active dwarves (minimum 1PP).

Oh man, how could I forget this? I have used this idea too. But that Warforged were dying out due to low populations, so they started putting their souls into warforged instead of actual bodies.

Dwarves who are elementals. They carve each other from stone, and the kind of stone they are made from determines their favored class.

I recall seeing this one pop up too.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

For my campaign world, I completely rejiggered the starting races. I had originally made single gods for each of the nine 2e alignments, but by 3.5 they became new races entirely. Here is what eventually became of Halflings:

The One Who Is Not Known reached into the Shadow, created sixth an image, and placed it in the shade. "My Man and Woman will live alongside the others, taking their fill from whatever the others forget. Their domain is that of confusion and forgetfulness, often causing others to ignore them." Thus the Low Man was formed.

Low Men

The Low Men are a seemingly weak race, and yet this weakness is their greatest strength. They are the smallest of the other races, and well known for being underfoot. Furthermore, they do not congregate in societies of their own. Instead, they live among the other races, taking on their mannerisms, and in many cases, many of their features. Low Men among Amborae have been known to bud flowers, and those among the Strakhan might develop long forms and shining eyes. However, in all cases, the Low Men will be smaller than the race they live among, and less spectacular in appearance, letting everyone know that they are, in fact, Low Men, and not simply small representations of another race.

Low Men get the following benefits:
· Dexterity +2, Strength -2
· Small-Sized
· Movement 20 ft.
· +2 to Tumble, Jump, and Move Silently checks: Low Men are very athletic, and quite able to move out of harm’s way whenever necessary. They also learn quite quickly how not to be noticed.
· Beneath Danger’s Notice: Low Men seems to avoid dangers that others fall prey to and receive a +1 bonus to all saving throws.
· Their Domain Is Confusion: As Low Men confuse and befuddle others around them, Disguise and Hide are considered class skills.
· The Others Forget: As easily as the Low Men slip from others’ grasp, so too they slip from others’ minds. After a full day of avoiding an opponent, a Low Man may make a Bluff check opposed by the opponent’s Sense Motive check. If successful, the Low Man’s appearance will be forgotten by the opponent. The opponent will still remember what happened, such as if something was stolen from him, and that he was trying to catch a Low Man thief, but details such as name and face will be forgotten.
· Under the Shadow of Others: Low Men live among the other races, never on their own. Starting Low Man characters choose one extra special quality: Scent of Beasts, Formed from Stone (only +2 natural armor and Medium size), The Stars Guide Their Paths, Their Spirits Are As Lightning, The Voice in The Dark, Filth and Cold in Death, The Starting Talents, Nothing Beyond Their Power.
· Automatic Languages: Low Man, High Man. Bonus Languages: Beastling, Cherboncle, Ambor, Entambor, Grachen, Strakhan, Wizened.
· Preferred Class: Rogue

Each race got a brand new treatment like this, with new powers and flavors.

 

[Merkuri]

A final idea is Dwarves a bit like the amish - humble, traditional, and wearing hats with stones sewn into the top, so the dwarf will always have rock over his head.

Always having rock over their head, that's brilliant. I love it!