Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Custom Fantasy Races and Pre-Generated Characters

Rules for making your own Races can be found in the Fantasy Companion and I think maybe in the newest version of the core rules as well. The gist is you've got a list of modifiers both positive and negative. As long as each Race balances in terms of net "points" then the relative power level should be fairly even.

I (rightly) assumed these kids would be guided by visual cues. I also assumed among common fantasy creatures Dwarves and Elves would be the easiest to locate in terms of character art. Making 3 variations of each and tossing in standard Humans gives me 7 playable Races, which is plenty for my purposes.

Speaking of character art, Google image search is your friend. And I was pleased to discover Wizards of the Coast is kind enough to provide Art Galleries and Art & Map archives. Had I known that going in I could have made Savage versions of some more oddball races like Tieflings or Warforged. But I made the Races and pre-gens before I went hunting for character portraits.

I think in my previous entry I said the Races balanced out at +2. That's wrong. My Races are +2 above the norm, which is already +2, so everything balances out at +4 per the Race creation rules.

Humans

Basic, adaptable, fantasy Humans. They get 2 free Edges during character creation at +2 points each for a total of +4. Easy peasy.

Moon Elves

Natural born assassins based on the Drow but with none of the assumed evilness of that Race.

  • Base Pace 10 (+2)
  • Infravision (+1)
  • Wall Walker (+1)
  • D6 Agility (+2)
  • Allergy: direct sunlight (-1)
  • -2 Charisma, generally creepy (-1)

Sun Elves

Traditional "high elves" with a natural affinity for magic.

  • +10 Power Points (+2)
  • Flight: Innate magical levitation (+2)
  • Elemental Tolerance: +4 to resist negative environmental effects (+2)
  • -1 Toughness (-2)

Wood Elves

Legolas clones. (Hey, I never claimed originality was my goal here!)

  • Keen Sight (+1)
  • Free d6 in Shooting (+1)
  • Level Headed Edge (+3)
  • Quirk: Fatigue roll if sleeping in any "unnatural" environment (-1)

Hill Dwarves

Adventurers and treasure hunters. Indiana Jones wearing a ZZ Top beard.

  • Artifact Hunter (+2)
  • Free d6 Lockpicking (+2)
  • Alertness (+2)
  • Pace 5 (-1)
  • Greedy (Minor) (-1)

Mountain Dwarves

Closer to traditional Dwarves, but not at all isolationist as Dwarves are sometimes portrayed and with a dash of the natural inclination towards merchantile trade usually found in Gnomes (or Ferengi).

  • +2 Charisma (+2)
  • Free d6 Spirit (+2)
  • Free d6 Persuasion (+1)
  • Pace 5 (-1)

Ice Dwarves

Ferral warriors of the north. I think I stopped short of giving them all horned helmets.

  • Hardy (+3)
  • +1 Toughness (+2)
  • +4 resist cold (+1
  • -4 to resist heat (-1)
  • Pace 5 (-1)

I had planned to include my pre-generated character ideas in this same post but checking the preview I see this is already quite a lot info so I'll stick a fork in this one and save pre-gens for next time.

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