The other humans

[Desdichado]

About as much wiggle room as we have on Earth; their creature type is Humanoid, so they definately are humanoid. But that still leaves tremendous variation; Gnolls are humanoids, too, after all.

Moreso, I'd say. They can easily be like on Barsoom---red skin, lay eggs, etc. For example.

I've played around a fair amount with coming up with new human ethnicities that don't feel like Earth human ethnicities warmed over. Blue-skinned humans (like General Thrawn), red men of Barsoom, humans with tales, or with a light layer of fur, stripes or spots to help camouflage them in their environment, etc.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

The Sheyani look like humans at hatching except for their cat slitted eyes and an annoying tendency not to blink. Their draconic heritage reveals itself when they receive any sort of flesh injury - healed skin gains irridescent scales (which give no armor bonus) leading to their common nickname "Scalescars". Warriors wear their criss crossing scale lines with pride, and some Sheyani even injure themselves in a deliberate pattern to gain a sort of scaled tattoo look. Clutch groups form the basis of Sheyani families, with males breeding outside the clutch, but tending their nieces and nephews with an instinct that would be called paternal in pair mated races.

 

[Terraism]

The Sheyani look like humans at hatching except for their cat slitted eyes and an annoying tendency not to blink. Their draconic heritage reveals itself when they receive any sort of flesh injury - healed skin gains irridescent scales (which give no armor bonus) leading to their common nickname "Scalescars". Warriors wear their criss crossing scale lines with pride, and some Sheyani even injure themselves in a deliberate pattern to gain a sort of scaled tattoo look. Clutch groups form the basis of Sheyani families, with males breeding outside the clutch, but tending their nieces and nephews with an instinct that would be called paternal in pair mated races.

That's a really neat race, Kahuna.

 

[DMH]

No, I think he wants to keep them mechanically the same, not just balanced. I think he wants flavor text that can explain the rather generic human racial traits.

That is correct. And the Burger lady did it with flying colors. Another example:

Rockscrabblers are mountain dwellers who disgust the lowlanders with an odd bit of social behavior- they feed close friends and family members bits of their own skin. Their arms and torsos are covered with bits of hanging flesh specifically meant for this. This very close social connection defeats the need for space and they live in very small, almost cramped buildings that are partially in the mountainside.

[Very loosely based on termites and be happy I didn't follow it closer]

 

[Lorion]

That is correct. And the Burger lady did it with flying colors. Another example:

Rockscrabblers are mountain dwellers who disgust the lowlanders with an odd bit of social behavior- they feed close friends and family members bits of their own skin. Their arms and torsos are covered with bits of hanging flesh specifically meant for this. This very close social connection defeats the need for space and they live in very small, almost cramped buildings that are partially in the mountainside.

[Very loosely based on termites and be happy I didn't follow it closer]

That's disgusting and creepy... but a cool idea. I like it!

Cheers, Marcus

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

I guess I've always had humans as basically the same everywhere. It's an underlying theme of all my campaigns - that no matter what, at the end of the day, people are basically the same everywhere you go. So on every world on which you find humans, you find, well, humans. Selfish, egotistical, short-sighted, emotional, irrational, illogical, industrious, innovative, insensitive, insufferable, adaptable, dependable, reliable survivors who are basically just apes in clothes.
Humans. Why change 'em?

 

[Ry]

Apes in clothes! Brilliant!

 

[DMH]

The sister thread: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=360744

Many of the examples I thought of last night were environmental in theme- long armed marsh dwellers (to catch fish) with spiney skin (keep the flies off), rough skinned plains ambush hunters (they live in tall grass and the skin prevents minor cuts) and clameaters who live on rocky shoreline with scaly skin and thumb nails strong enough to rip open shellfish. But 2 were not- a group, the dirteaters, cursed to live in a horizontal position (they leap sort of like a frog with the new legs) and inbred nobility (they do not have genetic defects, but do have traits that set them apart- gold hair and purple eyes flecked with gold).

 

[DMH]

At least some basis in real ethnic backgrounds is environmental, so why not take it a bit more extreme. These are simply stereotypes and there are many exceptions.

Sandeaters live in some deserts. They have no hair and tan skin. Their oddity is cold flesh- they are always cold to the touch. Seminomadic, they hunt giant ants and other vermin and use both the flesh and exoskeletons. Wildscape introduced the idea of deserts with metallic bits instead of sand and the sandeaters might have colorful skin if they dwell in such.

Rockhunters live in soil and rock deserts. They have curving horns over the head and brown, diamond shaped scales.

Marshtreaders have longer arms and spiney skin. Hunting among cattails or other tall grasses, they are very adept fishermen.

Saltbreathers are sailors with silver hair. They have 3 bones in their forearms and below the knee and those are broader because of this. Initially I was thinking of reducing breaks due to ship board accidents, but that didn't make any sense but I want to leave it anyways. Any other suggestions for people who live their entire lives at sea?

Grass ghosts are ambush hunters in tall grass with rough, almost scaly skin meant to reduce skin cuts. They are not treated well by other plains dwellers because of their appearance and raiding activities.

Roachmen are scavengers that live in giant caves and dragon lairs. Since they keep down the other vermin, they are not exterminated (they may be controlled, but rarely to the point of local extinction). They are small and very pale and usually live in the worst conditions. On fear of something worse, real or imagined, kept their ancestors from fleeing.

 

[DMH]

This also could represent all the people who live on the various planes that can support human life. I doubt there would be many colonies in the outer planes, but water, air, earth, steam and ooze all have potential.