Seeking Racial Balance

[Baron Opal]

I am shifting my campaign more towards culturally defined humans rather than many distinct races. therefore I'm trying to make a number of human ethnicities that would be interesting to play and balancing them as if they were seperate races. I'm really not happy with the Adamar at the moment, so any comments about them would be particularly helpful.

Also available are the races from Arcana Evolved. The verrik are considered humans for my purposes. They are partially reproduced below to give an idea of balance without giving away anything that might get me in trouble.

Scheme:
Race
Theme
Common tongue
Characteristics

Adamar
Pantheistic Mayans
- Work well in groups. Inquisitive. Religious rather than spiritual. Forms the backbone of the empire.
Imperial (Westron)
+2 Int / -2 Strength

+1 racial bonus to attack in groups of 3 or more.
Aid Another grants +3 bonus whether giving or receiving aid.
+2 to Concentration and Spot checks.

Gavinlander
Henotheistic Northmen
Hieratic (Eastron)
+2 Str / -2 Wis

+1 luck bonus to saves.
Endurance, as per the feat.

Saarcosi
Pantheistic Phoenicians
Hieratic (Eastron)
+2 Dex, Cha / -2 Con

+1 to reflex saves.
+2 to Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble checks.

Umbarim
Evolved Zoroastran Neanderthals
Hieratic (Eastron)
+2 Con / -2 Cha

Master of Craft: +4 to a specific Craft skill as well as Appraise for objects made by that craft.
Stable: +4 vs. attempts to knock prone, e.g. Bull Rush.
+2 on saves vs. poison and disease.

Verrik
Atheistic Persians
Imperial (Westron)
+2 Wis / -2 Cha

Sensory Control
Spell-like Abilities (comparable to gnomes in strength)
Spell Access (magicians have access to mental spells regardless of class)

Mixed-Blood
Bonus feat at first level.
+4 skill points at first level, +1 skill point each level therafter.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Take a look at Conan RPG by Mongoose. All of the PC races are Human. Also Iron Heroes has some ideas on how to differentiate Human tribes.

 

[NilesB]

Umbarim look by far the weakest. If you gave all the other races ECL +1 the umbarim still wouldn't be a gimme.

 

[Baron Opal]

You think that the umbarim are weaker than the adamar? That's a surprise.

Well, the umbarim are basically tweaked dwarves without a squat stature, reduced move and darkvision. I can add a couple things there, and I think that I'm going to take out the craft/appraise bonus. I have another race that gives a +2 to all Craft checks, so the umbarim aren't going to be master craftsmen.

The problem I have with the adamar, I guess, is that I'm short on ideas for the mods for a "civilized" race. The adamar have a strong, organized culture, mayan / aztec / indian in nature. They have time for ideological and philosophic pursuits and I wanted more than simply give a couple of esoteric Knowledge bonuses. Iron Heroes as a resource is a good idea. I'll have to look at that tonight.