Step 3.2: Race

     Today, I have to make a few decisions regarding race. First, I will start with the PC-playable races, because, meh, that’s the first thing I’ll have to deal with in game. Then, I’ll go to NPC races, and go through basically anything that is somehow civilized.

     First, let’s go see the different decisions I’ve already made with regards to race. One of the defining aspects of this world was that it is not human-centric. It is actually not any race-centric. In here, most factions prefer having people from many different races to ensure the versatility of their community.

     I’ve also talked about having Mutants and Traders. Mutants will be members of any race, so need not be defined now. Traders, however, will be an NPC race (so they remain mysterious), and I’m not sure whether they’ll be an existing race or not.

     The PHB proposes 7 races: Human, Half-Elf, Elf, Dwarf, Gnomes, Halfling and Half-Orc. For a society, Elves are specialized in magic, Dwarves in mining/blacksmithing, Gnomes in alchemy, Halflings in stealth, and Half-Orcs in combat. Half-Elves and Humans are more polyvalent. There is another race I really like as a PC race, but never used, and that is the Shifter (from Eberron). In this setting, Shifters make sense, as they are natural hunters, and so can bring in the food the community will need. I never included them because of fantasy racism, but this time, there is no such thing!

     I really like the Warforged also in this setting, but not as PC. Too different. You have too much to take into account when DMing a party with a Warforged, plus they resist regular healing, they switch up the whole thing. There will be Warforged NPCs, but none of the players will be one.

     8 PC races is pretty varied, it’s enough. Off to NPC races, where we have 2 major things to define: the Greenskins, and the Traders.

     Why the Greenskins? Well, I have a problem with the fact that there are just soooo many interchangeable bad guy races without much difference: hobgoblin, goblin, orc, half- orc, ogre, half-ogre, orok, bugbear, kobold, they’re all the same thing with a different CR. I want them to be made different. And yes, I know, not all of them have green skin. I still put them all under the same name.

     So what do I do with them? Well, to me, we can settle with 3 of these: one small, one medium, one large. That way, they come up as different. When you describe them, they come across as different, just through size. They’re all redundant anyways, and because of the non-racial thing, I won’t make them separate just to make different factions.

     For small, I have to choose between goblin and kobold. Kobolds are pathetic dragonlings, and I can’t allow that in this world. Everything somehow related to a dragon must be superior. Goblin it will be. For large, it’s bugbear or ogres. I personally prefer Ogres for absolutely no reason. Bugbears and kobolds, both out.

     For medium, it’s either Hobgoblin or Orc. Well.. you know, Orc and Hobgoblins are opposite: one of them is this barbarian, savage creature, while the other one is this much more strategic one. Hobgoblins are to a certain extent useful to a community. Orcs aren’t. Orcs will be the savage creatures, hobgoblins could be part of “civilized” community. But I don’t want them to be. I have to figure out why they’re not.

     So Orcs and Hobgoblins stay. However, with Orcs so much out of society, I don’t know why Half-Orcs would be in. Half-Orcs are out as PC race.

     I said there wouldn’t be racial differences in a faction. But I still don’t want Greenskins in there. Sure, it’s easy to explain why a baron wouldn’t want a mind flayer around, but an Orc is not more powerful than an elf or a dwarf. They’d have to stay out because they don’t want to be part of it. That will be defined through factions.

     It’s the trader race’s turn now. I was struggling with whether or not I was to create a new race for them, and I found the perfect idea: Yuan-Tis. Yes, they’re absolutely evil, but in a setting without alignment, it’s not as clear cut. There would be two types of Yuan-Tis: the Traders, and the regular evil monsters. In reality, they cooperate. I also like the idea of a Yuan-Ti ship coming in town, with 6-8 Pureblood Merchants, and one Halfblood “bouncer” who actually is the head of the group.  He seems to be the muscle, and he is, but he’s also much more than that.

     Often, I’d use this step to define culture, but here, as culture is not racial but geographical,  it will have to wait until after I define the factions of the setting, which will be the subject of my next post.

Step 3: Class/Race Decisions: Let's start with Class

For a D&D campaign, now I must look at the classes I'll allow my players to use. Why now? Mainly because it is one of the first questions people ask about a setting: What classes can we play? Can I play a (insert here weird, obscure class from an obscure book's appendix)?

For some, this is a very complicated step, for me it isn't. Usually, I allow all classes from the PHB, and for this one, the druid is out. I also like to tone down the cleric a bit by only allowing him to wear only up to medium armor. Heavy will not affect spellcasting, but they must take the feat or a level of another class to be proficient in it. While some of you may complain about this limited choice of classes, I must say that I am 100% open to adapting these classes for you a la Unearthed Arcana. I actually will have to with Paladins to adapt them to an ideal other than LGness. I could do it for Clerics too, but maybe domain will be enough. I'll give them the option either way.

So let's go through the allowed classes and any changes to them in my setting.

Fighters, Bards, Rogue and Rangers are unchanged, and Druids are out.


Barbarians: To me, barbarians don't have to be illiterate fools who can get really mad. They're just fighters who prefer a more chaotic, emotional style of combat. They are regarded as fools by soldiers because of how incompatible this style is to theirs, and as inelegant by most, but they are not necessarily people from outside civilization. That needed saying.


Wizards and Sorcerers: As I said earlier, everybody will be born with a cantrip/orison they'll be able to use (yes, I did go for that), with more spells popping up at higher level (details on the mechanics later). Some people push that gift farther naturally, and master more spells, more powerful spells, and become sorcerers. Some others, however, try to understand the phenomenon, study it, and by doing so understand how to push its boundaries, becoming Wizards. Both do the same thing, it is the way in which they manage to do it that makes the difference between the two. However, the spells people get as a "bonus" at creation is considered included in their spell slots. They're not limited to one spell for that slot, but they don't get a bonus one either. So it works mechanically and thematically, you can't become a sorcerer/wizard if your "gift" is an orison.

Clerics and Paladins: As I said previously, in this setting, Gods don't exist. In this setting, Clerics and Paladins do not represent a god or a church, but a cause. Just as a "regular" setting can have a Cleric of Pelor or of Yondalla, this one will have a Cleric of Strength, or a Cleric of Freedom. Clerics and Paladins are not linked to religion. However, some Clerics and Paladins are highly religious, followers of a faith that is linked to the ideal they serve, but not servants of that religion per se. That is, you could have a Cleric of Generosity that is also a Christian, but no Cleric of Christianity. Same goes for Paladins.

As such, Paladin abilities will most likely have to be rethought to fit their ideal, and Clerics will only get access to a single domain (the domain that represents their cause). The bonus linked to each domain will be enhanced a bit, given that they'll only get one.

Monks: I struggled a lot with them, with what I'd do with them in this setting. Monks are not as clear cut as Clerics and Pallys. They are portrayed as religious, but don't get powers directly from their patron. As such, I'd say monks are not necessarily members of a religion, nor are they necessarily followers of a cause. To me, a Sangoku would be a monk (well, if you bar the whole "shoots lasers" thing), and he isn't an example of any cause or a religious dude. He is just reaaaally serious about martial arts. That's pretty much what monks are in D&D, except we wrap them in religion for some reason. Not in here.

That's pretty much it for classes. I'll have to go more in depth in the mechanics, but that will most likely be a case by case basis. In the next post, we'll look at the different races present in this world, and the social importance of each.