What races are appropriate to Heroic Bronze (Greece) setting

[tarchon]

I was thinking - demigods are probably more on the order of half-celestials in terms of power. Planetouched are more like the descendants of demigods.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Dwarves make great spartans IMO.

 

[tarchon]

This is kind of what I was thinking:

OLYMPIAN SCIONS AS CHARACTERS
Olympian scions are not the direct children of gods, but their bloodlines can be traced to a major deity, an Olympian whose immense power still invigorates the descendants of the original demigod.
Olympian scion characters possess the following racial traits.

* +2 Charisma.
* Ancestral Signature Trait Bonus
* Medium size
* A scion’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Ancestral Signature Special Abilities/Qualities
* Racial Skills: Scions have a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (Religion) checks and any Signature racial skills.
* Racial Feats: A scion gains feats according to its class levels and any Signature racial feats.
* Automatic Languages: Common, Celestial. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Sylvan.
* Favored Class: Cleric or per ancestral deity
* Level adjustment +1

Signature abilities: (all spell-like abilities have save DCs based on Cha and are cast as a 1st-level caster or a caster of the character’s character level, whichever is higher):

Zeus – Strength +2; Electricity resistance 5; +2 racial bonus to Intimidate; Enmity of Hera; Fav Class Fighter or Barbarian.
Poseidon – Constitution +2; Water Breathing (Su) at will; +2 racial bonus to Swim; Fav Class Ranger.
Hades – Charisma +2; Darkvision 60 ft.; Darkness 1/day; Speak Language (Infernal); Fav Class Sorceror
Athena – Wisdom +2; all Craft and Knowledge skills count as class skills, +2 racial bonus to two Craft or Knowledge skills chosen at character creation; Low-Light Vision; Fav Class Ranger or Expert.
Aphrodite – Charisma +2; Charm Person 1/day; +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy; Fav Class Bard.
Hephaestos – Intelligence +2; Fire resistance 5; Craft (Weaponsmithing) and Craft (Armorsmithing) count as class skills and have a +2 racial bonus; Fav Class Wizard.
Ares – Strength +2; can use all weapons and armor as if proficient, including exotic, but this does not count as a proficiency for feat prerequisites and similar requirements; Fav Class Fighter or Warrior.
Apollo – Dexterity +2; Fire resistance 5; Daylight (Sp) 1/day; +2 racial bonus to Heal or Perform (chosen at creation); Fav Class Bard.
Artemis – Dexterity +2; Cold resistance 5; +2 racial bonus to Wilderness Lore as an automatic class skill; Track feat; Fav Class Ranger, Druid, or Sorcerer.
Hera – Charisma +2; +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive; Fav Class Cleric or Aristocrat.
Demeter – Wisdom +2; Purify Food and Drink (Sp) 1/day; +2 racial bonus to Profession (Farmer); Fav Class Druid.
Hermes – Dexterity +2; Never Fatigued by Travel; Fast Movement (as Barbarian); Fav Class Rogue.

DEMIGODS AS CHARACTERS
Demigod characters possess the following racial traits.

* +4 Charisma, +2 Constitution
* Ancestral Signature Trait Bonus
* Medium size
* A demigod’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Ancestral Signature Special Abilities/Qualities
* 1/wk Planar Ally, Lesser (Sp); 1/wk Planar Ally, Greater (Sp) (if HD 12 or more).
* Racial Skills: Demigods have a +4 racial bonus on Knowledge (Religion) checks and a +2 racial bonus on any Diplomacy checks involving gods or related beings (including bargaining for Planar Ally spells).
* Racial Feats: A scion gains feats according to its class levels and any Signature racial feats.
* Automatic Languages: Common, Celestial. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Sylvan.
* Favored Class: Cleric and any per parent deity
* Level adjustment +4.
* Immunity to disease.
* Damage reduction: 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more).
*A demigod’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
* Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 10 (maximum 35).

Signature abilities: (all spell-like abilities have save DCs based on Cha and are cast as a 1st-level caster or a caster of the character’s character level, whichever is higher):

Zeus – Strength +4; Electricity resistance 10; +2 racial bonus to Intimidate; Enmity of Hera; Fav Class Fighter or Barbarian.
Poseidon – Constitution +4; Water breathing; +4 racial bonus to Swim; Fav Class Ranger.
Hades – Charisma +2, Strength +2; Darkvision 60 ft.; Darkness 3/day as a 1st-level caster or a caster of his class levels, whichever is higher; Spell Focus (necromantic); Speak Language (Infernal); Fav Class Sorceror.
Athena – Wisdom +4; all Craft and Knowledge skills count as class skills, +2 racial bonus to all Craft or Knowledge skills; Low-Light Vision; Fav Class Ranger or Expert.
Aphrodite – Charisma +4; Charm Person 3/day as a 1st-level caster or a caster of his class levels, whichever is higher; +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy; Fav Class Bard.
Hephaestos – Intelligence +4, Strength +2; Fire resistance 10; Craft (Weaponsmithing) and Craft (Armorsmithing) count as class skills and have a +2 racial bonus; Fav Class Wizard.
Ares – Strength +4; can use all weapons and armor as if proficient, including exotic – these count as feat prerequisites and similar requirements; Fav Class Fighter or Warrior.
Apollo – Dexterity +4; Fire resistance 10; Daylight 3/day (Sp); +2 racial bonus to Heal and Perform; Fav Class Bard.
Artemis – Dexterity +4; Cold resistance 10; +2 racial bonus to Wilderness Lore as automatic class skill; Track feat; Fav Class Ranger, Druid, or Sorcerer.
Hera – Charisma +4, Wisdom +2; Discern Falsehood (Sp) 1/day; +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive; Fav Class Cleric or Aristocrat.
Demeter – Wisdom +4; Purify Food and Drink 3/day; +2 racial bonus to Profession (Farmer); Fav Class Druid.
Hermes – Dexterity +4; Never Fatigued by Travel; Fast Movement (as barbarian); Freedom of Movement (Sp) 1/day; Fav Class Rogue.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

One option for more powerful monster races is to go the monster racial class route from Savage Species, which has class writeups for minotaurs, centaurs, satyrs and gorgons (listed as medusae).

 

[bmcdaniel]

Pygmies

In addition to some of the races described above, I used pygmies in my homebrew Heroic Greece campaign.

From Bullfinch's Mythology:

The Pygmies were a nation of dwarfs, so called from a Greek word
which means the cubit or measure of about thirteen inches, which
was said to be the height of these people. They lived near the
sources of the Nile, or according to others, in India. Homer tells
us that the cranes used to migrate every winter to the Pygmies'
country, and their appearance was the signal of bloody warfare to
the puny inhabitants, who had to take up arms to defend their
cornfields against the rapacious strangers. The Pygmies and their
enemies the Cranes form the subject of several works of art.

Later writers tell of an army of Pygmies which finding Hercules
asleep made preparations to attack him, as if they were about to
attack a city. But the hero, awaking, laughed at the little
warriors, wrapped some of them up in his lion's skin, and carried
them to Eurystheus.

Here is the description I used in my handout

Pygmies
The Pygmies are a diminutive people, averaging barely three feet in height. Despite this, they are as strong as full grown humans. Pygmies originate in Africa, South of the Nile, and they are accustomed to extremes of heat, and accordingly revere Apollo, in his solar aspect, above all other gods. Pygmies and giant cranes are natural enemies and will attack each other on sight. Pygmies favor nets, bows and spears, but usually avoid heavy armor.
No ability score adjustments.
Small: As a Small creature, a pygmy gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Pygmy base land speed is 20 feet.
Weapon Familiarity: Pygmies may treat nets as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
Energy Resistance (Fire) 5.
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against flying creatures. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass pygmy's fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.

 

[Tonguez]

This is kind of what I was thinking:

OLYMPIAN SCIONS AS CHARACTERS
Olympian scions are not the direct children of gods, but their bloodlines can be traced to a major deity, an Olympian whose immense power still invigorates the descendants of the original demigod.

Thank you Tarchon, thats a great list and one I will be using

In addition to some of the races described above, I used pygmies in my homebrew Heroic Greece campaign.

Pygmies kewl!

 

[Desdichado]

I was thinking - demigods are probably more on the order of half-celestials in terms of power. Planetouched are more like the descendants of demigods.

I disagree. Which half-god hero are you thinking of that has wings and a host of magical spell-like abilities? For the most part, the "demigods" of Greek myth were just people who were somewhat more heroic than your average guy.

Kinda like a D&D player character.

 

[Tonguez]

I disagree. Which half-god hero are you thinking of that has wings and a host of magical spell-like abilities? For the most part, the "demigods" of Greek myth were just people who were somewhat more heroic than your average guy.

Kinda like a D&D player character.

Yes you do make a good point since the only Greek Demigod I can think of with a obvious boon is Hercules and his Str bonus, the rest pretty much seem to be working on the idea of 'mana' (in its original sense) ie that because they are the children of gods they have the capacity to do great things.

As to Scions it would appear that in many cases the Nymphs fit this role as the grandchildren and remoter descendents of gods. Ergo Tarchon may have hit on a scheme of creating a whole range of different Nymphs in addition to those known from myth.

Wow so much to consider!

 

[tarchon]

I disagree. Which half-god hero are you thinking of that has wings and a host of magical spell-like abilities? For the most part, the "demigods" of Greek myth were just people who were somewhat more heroic than your average guy.

I said in one post "(aasimar is reasonable, but I'd probably tweak it a bit - demi-gods seldom had anything resembling spell-like abilities, but their stats were heroic)"

Then I said: "I was thinking - demigods are probably more on the order of half-celestials in terms of power. Planetouched are more like the descendants of demigods." I guess you didn't notice that I said "on the order of... in terms of power" rather than something like "I think Herakles had wings and could cast Daylight as a spell-like ability. He was so kewl."

You also must have missed the post after that in which none of the demigods I sketched out have "wings" and most of them only have one or two fairly inconspicuous spell-like abilities. Sure, I gave some of them a few Sps (we have to fill in some information obviously, since extant mythology doesn't detail any demigods born of certain Olympians), and I gave all full demigods Planar Ally, since Greek mythology regularly represents demigods, even young sprouts like Phaeton, as seeking and receiving special aid or favors from their parents.

I will try to be more clear next time.

I'm thinking of demigods like Herakles (Zeus), Amphion (Zeus - also the prototype for the lyre of building), Orpheus (Apollo - prototype for much of the Bard class), Aeneas (Aphrodite), Aesculapius (Apollo), Perseus (Zeus), Castor and Pollux (Zeus), Phaeton (Apollo), Theseus (Poseidon), several of whom eventually ascended to full godhood. If you know Greek mythology well, you know that most exceptional figures, like Helen, were supposed by some authors to be demigods, so clearly demigods were conceived to be people of remarkable ability. It's also quite obvious that the descendants of demigods tended to be exceptional but to a lesser degree (Odysseus, Cadmus), which fits pretty well with the general power level of the half-celestial/aasimar model in the SRD.

 

[DMH]

Sileni

Cecrops

Thanks! I find another page on the sileni:

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/sileni.html

So how would one change the stats for a faun to reflect the horse bits?