What interesting races...

[Acid_crash]

have you come up with in your homebrew worlds that are different than the norm, or how have you changed the normal races to fit your unique world?

 

[Napftor]

While my group games in the Forgotten Realms, I've added two new races to that world's mix. Dwelves--children of dwarf and elf parents (long story)--can be found in detail here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1859&

Also created a race called the "asharin" which took the place of doppelgangers. It's not that the asharin have doppelganger abilities, it's that they are the race which doppelgangers were forced to evolve from. The PCs were able to undo that "curse" and now all Realms doppelgangers have reverted back to their true asharin state. You can find out more about the asharin (at least the mutated version I slipped into the published world) in MEG's Raw Recruits.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I (plan to) use the Deep Imaskar (See www.wizards.com, one of the FR books), chaotic (not all evil) River/Sea Orcs, and another wizard oriented race, the Phaedra, as well as two rather fighter-oriented races from some 3rd party source.

 

[Crothian]

I do a lot with races and subtle changes to the basic ones as well as having introduced a few non standard ones. I have three canine races, a race of highly evolved orcs, a race of shapeshifter, a race jelly fish like beings, and a race with no free will of their own.

 

[The Quijotic Moose]

I love writing races

My two most notable ones are the astral and shadow planetouched, the Isheya and Myrrashae. The Isheya get weakened bag of holding ability and can teleport a very short distance (20 ft) and are the race of wanderlust. The myrrashae can conjure the shadows of objects and use them as tools.

 

[Tonguez]

I took Bugbears gave them Brachiation and made them 'Ape-men' (align Neutral), they are the jungledwelling 'Sasquatch' of my campaign. These Apemen get a disease like Lycanthorpy that transforms them into 'Wendigo' (Dire Bugbears with Spd 50 and a Blur ability). APemen psions are the Beaver folk of Slaine legend...

I've modified gnomes (they are now 15 inches high)

I have a telepathic race called 'Oni' who are tall and thin with long purple, red or silver hair and long twisting horns, all Oni hide their true faces behind masks and they are said to be refugess from another dimension (the look is taken from Noh Opera costumes). Oni have the power to 'fold space' (teleportion) as such any item they own seems to suddenly appear in their hands whenever they want it (and as a swift* action). Mrs Halkum Private Secretary to Orbril the Gnome, Master of the Grand Circus Maximus was an Oni (though she spent most of her time disguised as a human)

(i*t was a free action but I changed it when swift actions were introduced)

 

[Afrodyte]

Click here to see the sorts of things I'm introducing to future D20 games I run (at least, those with more than one race). Also, in keeping with restructuring class abilties into talent trees, I'll introduce racial talents as well.

 

[Khayman]

In my Mystara campaign, I have the Rauthen, a 'fateless' race that predates the coming of the Powers. The gods cannot see their fates so they represent a thorny wild card. They look human and have similar stats. They have access to a range of feats that allow them to resist divine magic, hide from clerics and other divine casters, etc. Downside is they get limited benefit from healing magicks and they really don't advance all that well as clerics...

 

[Woas]

I love reworking old races into new ones. For example:

I made Orcs (the normal kind) a playable race for a particular homebrew game. They are, as a race, much inspired by William Blake's Orc however. Not LotR Orcs. What does that mean for people who do not know? LotR Orcs = Evil race breed for distruction. William Blake's Orc = Positve figures. They embody "creative passion and energy." They rival humans for the position of 'most adaptable race.' Although they may look a little brutish, they are no more evil or no more good than any other average humanoid race. They speak very honestly and openly. Orcs do not like it when their words are not heard. They actually make for a good public speaker, pouring lots of emotion into the speach and all.

 

[reanjr]

have you come up with in your homebrew worlds that are different than the norm, or how have you changed the normal races to fit your unique world?

After one of my rants to my players over the absurdity of a human's capacity for breeding with anything, but the inability for those things to breed with one another, one of my players said I should just create all the other half-races and be done with it. So I did.

Dwarf/Elf
Dwarf/Gnome
Dwarf/Halfling
Dwarf/Human
Dwarf/Orc
Elf/Gnome
Elf/Halfling
*Elf/Human
Elf/Orc
Gnome/Halfling
Gnome/Human
Gnome/Orc
Halfling/Human
Halfling/Orc
*Human/Orc

After doing that, I just got rid of half-elves, because it was easier and made more sense.

Other than that, I tend to just take one of the standard MM creatures and turn them into a standard PC race with cultural twists. That works best for me.