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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8318230" data-attributes="member: 6796468">SO! Let's talk Races.CommonHumanDwarfElfMulUncommonAaracokra HalflingHalf-ElfHalf-GiantRareGithPterranThri-KreenSpecialWasteland MutantI think this array works pretty well to establish rarities. To explain the Uncommon -Adventuring- races, Aaracokra largely live in communities outside of cities, like elves, but are less likely to fall in love with a human and beget a Half-Elf. Half elves are uncommon because that's also an unusual event. Half Giants are uncommon because there just weren't a ton of Giants to go around when the Sorcerer-Kings made them but they also breed true so... y'know. More, now, than there were before. Halflings are uncommon 'cause they largely (but not exclusively) hang out in the Forest Ridge.And then the Gith are rare 'cause there's just not a huge quantity of them, the Pterran are reclusive, and the Thri-Kreen are rarely adventurers because it doesn't generally jibe with what their needs are.Because these common/uncommon/rare adventurer lists and are just kind of a guideline to how many eyebrows are going to lift when you roll into town with your crew. Any player can pick any of these races to play because Adventurers are special and unique characters. I put Wasteland Mutants into their own category since regular everyday minor Wasteland Mutations are pretty common, you have to imagine. Humans with an extra finger on each hand, or elves with snake-like banding patterns on their flesh, or halflings with particularly large eyes. But the full on Wasteland Mutant Race, with the ability to be a Tiefling, Dragonborn, Drow, Etc, should only be available at DM's discretion.But let's also talk about a few:Racial TraitsDarkvision. It makes sense for -some- races to be evolved to have Darkvision of some kind. But not nearly the wide breadth of standard 5e. Elves are Desert-Runners who mainly move during the dim hours of the evening/morning and under the moons and stars, so it makes sense for them, and thus Half-Elves, to have Darkvision. Aaracokra and Thri-Kreen for the same reason. But the Dwarves of Athas are not underground mole people, so there's no reason for them, or Mul, to have Darkvision. Gith I'm uncertain on, because they're not Athasian Natives and Gith generally have it... so I guess that'd be okay?This trait is actually really important for the following reasons: Athas has 2 moons, Ral and Guthay. It also has a starlit sky and barely any cloud-cover at any time of year because of the lack of Water on the planet. Pretty much every night on Athas is Dim, rather than Black. Of course shadowed places in Towns or Canyons, and the interior of ruins, are going to be pretty much pitch-black at night, and occasionally during the day, so Darkvision is still super useful for Adventurers in -that- regard as well. But this means that at night, every race with Darkvision will see the world just as well as they normally would if the sun was up.Large Size. Half-Giants and Thri-Kreen are both large sized entities based on their descriptions... But being Large Size doesn't have a whole ton of advantages when you actually examine it in 5e. And it does come with some heavy problems, like exposing yourself to a whole mess more attacks and not getting Opportunity attacks 'til enemies leave your extended reach. It also usually increases your resource consumption, which is a big problem in a Desert environment where Water and Food are fairly scarce. So I feel like having Large characters works just fine for the setting with a couple of caveats. Thri-Kreen should not be able to use large weapons (They're basically Long rather than Big) and should be able to Squeeze and Consume like medium creatures because they're skinny AF. And second "Large" weapons should deal more damage, but I'm not sure doubling is the way to go. A Large Longsword is basically a Medium Greatsword, after all. What are your thoughts?Focus. Dwarves get Focuses. They Focus on a task. A Focus-Task must take at -least- 1 week to complete, and while focused they essentially get no sleep while working toward that Focus. They lack the need for sleep and can just be awake all the time planning how they'll deal with their focus, working on their focus, and generally just centering themselves around it. Once it is complete, they'll find a new focus to start in on after getting some much needed rest. A dwarf that dies while focused becomes a Wasteland Banshee that haunts their focus. This is going to be difficult to model in 5e, but giving them a set of 3d8 Focus Dice to use that recover on a long rest would be a decent way to do it? These 3d8 can be used on skill and ability checks related to their Focus, or on saving throws against effects that would stop them from completing their Focus. A dwarf Focused on recovering an item from a tomb would have great leeway on how to use those 3d8...Racial Spellcasting. While none of the "Standard" races of Athas have any kind of racial spellcasting, certain Wasteland Mutants might have it. Such as Drow or Tieflings. Because of the nature of how they gain this magic I'd be tempted to call it Arcane rather than Psionic in many cases, opening these characters up to the possibility of Defiling with their racial traits. But could also totally understand making such a choice a Flexible Option for any Wasteland Mutant. So that some "Drow" have psionic Faerie Fire.Flight. Pretty dang useful as a racial trait... Especially in an area where the landscape is largely open and flying above your target means you have a clear line of fire. But there are 2 problems with flying that a character with flying must recognize. Firstly, there's no cover to be had from other attackers and if you fall from a great height while at 0hp you're almost certainly going to die. So it's best to land when fighting, perhaps somewhere high up to retain your height advantage but get cover. And second, there's no cover to be had from the Sun, which means you'll be exposing yourself to greater fatigue and danger from the environment.</blockquote>

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