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  1. #1
    Kalien
    Guest
    Hi,

    Some of you no doubt know me from Morg's CoG games where I played Kalien or from elsewhere. I've been turning my mind to running an Anuirean PBEM with a few changes from the setting set out in Ruins of Empire (regarding the political climate, not entailing changes domains around). Anyway, I've had a brief chat with Morg and he's agreed to host the game for me once I get all the background sorted out. As such, I've been going over the BRCS Playtest version and decided to disregard the entire character creation chapters (simply because I don't like them, but this isn't the place for discussions on that). Consequently, I have to write up all the character creation for myself and thought I'd post stuff here for feedback. (Due to RL stuff, the game is still 2 - 3 months away).

    One of the first things I've done is re-write the charcater races to make them more balanced (from my perspective anyway). The basic design rules I used (for the human races anyway) are the same ones that were used in the creation of the FRCS:
    1. A +1 bonus to any one save equates with a +2 bonus to any one skill.
    2. Skill bonuses should only be given to non-exclusive class skills that can be used untrained (for example, giving someone +1 to Spellcraft is pointless as most people can't use Spellcraft. Unless you make Spellcraft a class skill for a group of people based on region, ethnicity, or some other criteria).
    3. Making a skill a class skill for a character equates to a +1 bonus to any one skill.

    With all that said here goes:

    Races:
    The five ethnic groups of Cerilian humans and the Non-human races listed below have Regional or Racial feats included in their descriptions. Racial feats are restricted to only those races that have that feat listed as a racial feat in their racial description. Regional feats are restricted to those characters from the relevant region (Anuire, Brechtur, Khinasi, Rjurik, or Vos). If a character has 2 ranks in Knowledge, Local in a region not their own, then they may select regional feats from that other region. For example, Tuor Arndien, an Anuirean magician who studied in Khinasi for several years has 2 ranks in Knowledge, Local (Khinasi). He may therefore select any Khinasi regional feat such as Courteous Magocracy. Any character may take a General feat.

    Human:
    Humans in Cerilia are divided into five distinct ethnic groups, each with their own distinct culture. These distinct ethnic groups have their own characteristics which are listed below. In all other respects Cerilian humans are unchanged from those contained within the 3rd edition PHB published by WotC.

    Anuirean:
    · +1 Will saves.
    · +1 Diplomacy checks.
    · Regional Feats: Cosmopolitan, Education, Smooth Talk, Strong Soul.

    Brecht:
    · +1 Appraise, Bluff, and Diplomacy checks.
    · Regional Feats: Education, Mercantile Background, Silver Palm, Street Smart.

    Khinasi:
    · +1 Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks.
    · Innuendo is a class skill for Khinasi characters regardless of character class. If a Khinasi character already has Innuendo as a class skill (for example, if the Khinasi character starts play as a bard) then the character receives a +1 bonus to their Innuendo skill.
    · Regional Feats: Artist, Cosmopolitan, Courteous Magocracy, Education.

    Rjurik:
    · +1 Fortitude saves.
    · Wilderness Lore is a class skill for Rjurik characters regardless of character class. If a Rjurik character already has Wilderness Lore as a class skill (for example, if the Rjurik character starts play as a druid or ranger) then the character receives a +1 bonus to their Wilderness Lore skill.
    · Regional Feats: Blooded, Forester, Strong Soul, Survivor.

    Vos:
    · +1 Fortitude saves.
    · +1 Intimidate checks.
    · Regional Feats: Bullheaded, Dwarf’s Toughness, Survivor, Thug.

    Dwarf:
    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma.
    · +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against orogs. This replaces the racial bonus to attack rolls against orcs and goblins in the 3rd edition PHB.
    · A dwarf’s dense body takes only half damage from bludgeoning weapons.
    · Dwarves can carry amazing burdens. For the purposes of how much the character can carry (and for this purpose only), a dwarf’s strength is considered to be 2 points higher than their actual strength score.
    · Dwarves are creatures who derive from stone and their bodies are twice as dense as other creatures. As a result, dwarves weigh as much as 250 to 300 pounds.
    · Racial Feats: Child of the Earth, Dwarf’s Toughness, Mercantile Background, Strong Soul
    · ECL: +1

    Elf (Sidhelien):
    Cerilian elves are creatures of faerie dust and starlight, gifted with immortality and powers of mind and body beyond those of humankind. They are a force for neither good nor evil; an elven wood can be perilous for human travellers, but even more so for goblins or gnolls. The elven heart is unfathomable to non-elves; they are moved to wild delight, dark melancholy, or burning rage with only the slightest cause. More than anything else, elves are unpredictable, doing what pleases them from one moment to the next.

    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution
    · Immune to aging effects.
    · Immune to non-magical diseases. Elves are still affected by magical diseases such as lycanthropy and mummy rot.
    · Pass without trace in natural settings.
    · Ignore ground characteristics whem moving. An elf can travel over heavy snow, soft sand, or a treacherous mountainside as easily as a human walks across a smooth wooden floor.
    · Favoured Class: Sorcerer.
    · Racial Feats: Forester, Stealthy, Strong Soul, Survivor.
    · ECL: +1

    Half Elf:
    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Charisma
    · +2 racial saving throw bonus against Aging effects and non-magical Disease.
    · Racial Feats: Cosmopolitan, Stealthy, Strong Soul, Survivor
    · ECL: +0

    Halfling:
    Cerilian halflings once dwelled in the Shadow World, a realm of faerie enchantment parallel to Cerilia. That realm was poisoned by the rise of the Usurper, a gathering evil that corrupted their homeland, and they fled to the daylight world to escape his power. Cerilian halflings retain the ability to see and travel into and through the Shadow World.

    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · Halflings may use detect evil, detect undead, and detect magic (necromantic only) once per day as if cast by a sorcerer of their character level.
    · Halflings may use dimension door and shadow walk once per week as if cast by a sorcerer of their character level.
    · Racial Feats: Luck of Heroes, Smooth Talk, Stealthy, Strong Soul.
    · ECL: +1

    Note: all the races have the option of selecting Racial or Regional feats. Many of these were taken from the FRCS and I'm not going to describe them all right here. What I did do was provide 4 such feats to every race for the purposes of balance.

  2. #2
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Kalien

    Hi,

    Some of you no doubt know me from Morg's CoG games where I played Kalien or from elsewhere. I've been turning my mind to running an Anuirean PBEM with a few changes from the setting set out in Ruins of Empire (regarding the political climate, not entailing changes domains around). Anyway, I've had a brief chat with Morg and he's agreed to host the game for me once I get all the background sorted out. As such, I've been going over the BRCS Playtest version and decided to disregard the entire character creation chapters (simply because I don't like them, but this isn't the place for discussions on that). Consequently, I have to write up all the character creation for myself and thought I'd post stuff here for feedback. (Due to RL stuff, the game is still 2 - 3 months away).

    One of the first things I've done is re-write the charcater races to make them more balanced (from my perspective anyway). The basic design rules I used (for the human races anyway) are the same ones that were used in the creation of the FRCS:
    1. A +1 bonus to any one save equates with a +2 bonus to any one skill.
    2. Skill bonuses should only be given to non-exclusive class skills that can be used untrained (for example, giving someone +1 to Spellcraft is pointless as most people can't use Spellcraft. Unless you make Spellcraft a class skill for a group of people based on region, ethnicity, or some other criteria).
    3. Making a skill a class skill for a character equates to a +1 bonus to any one skill.

    With all that said here goes:

    Races:
    The five ethnic groups of Cerilian humans and the Non-human races listed below have Regional or Racial feats included in their descriptions. Racial feats are restricted to only those races that have that feat listed as a racial feat in their racial description. Regional feats are restricted to those characters from the relevant region (Anuire, Brechtur, Khinasi, Rjurik, or Vos). If a character has 2 ranks in Knowledge, Local in a region not their own, then they may select regional feats from that other region. For example, Tuor Arndien, an Anuirean magician who studied in Khinasi for several years has 2 ranks in Knowledge, Local (Khinasi). He may therefore select any Khinasi regional feat such as Courteous Magocracy. Any character may take a General feat.

    Human:
    Humans in Cerilia are divided into five distinct ethnic groups, each with their own distinct culture. These distinct ethnic groups have their own characteristics which are listed below. In all other respects Cerilian humans are unchanged from those contained within the 3rd edition PHB published by WotC.

    Anuirean:
    · +1 Will saves.
    · +1 Diplomacy checks.
    · Regional Feats: Cosmopolitan, Education, Smooth Talk, Strong Soul.

    Brecht:
    · +1 Appraise, Bluff, and Diplomacy checks.
    · Regional Feats: Education, Mercantile Background, Silver Palm, Street Smart.

    Khinasi:
    · +1 Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks.
    · Innuendo is a class skill for Khinasi characters regardless of character class. If a Khinasi character already has Innuendo as a class skill (for example, if the Khinasi character starts play as a bard) then the character receives a +1 bonus to their Innuendo skill.
    · Regional Feats: Artist, Cosmopolitan, Courteous Magocracy, Education.

    Rjurik:
    · +1 Fortitude saves.
    · Wilderness Lore is a class skill for Rjurik characters regardless of character class. If a Rjurik character already has Wilderness Lore as a class skill (for example, if the Rjurik character starts play as a druid or ranger) then the character receives a +1 bonus to their Wilderness Lore skill.
    · Regional Feats: Blooded, Forester, Strong Soul, Survivor.

    Vos:
    · +1 Fortitude saves.
    · +1 Intimidate checks.
    · Regional Feats: Bullheaded, Dwarf’s Toughness, Survivor, Thug.

    Dwarf:
    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma.
    · +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against orogs. This replaces the racial bonus to attack rolls against orcs and goblins in the 3rd edition PHB.
    · A dwarf’s dense body takes only half damage from bludgeoning weapons.
    · Dwarves can carry amazing burdens. For the purposes of how much the character can carry (and for this purpose only), a dwarf’s strength is considered to be 2 points higher than their actual strength score.
    · Dwarves are creatures who derive from stone and their bodies are twice as dense as other creatures. As a result, dwarves weigh as much as 250 to 300 pounds.
    · Racial Feats: Child of the Earth, Dwarf’s Toughness, Mercantile Background, Strong Soul
    · ECL: +1

    Elf (Sidhelien):
    Cerilian elves are creatures of faerie dust and starlight, gifted with immortality and powers of mind and body beyond those of humankind. They are a force for neither good nor evil; an elven wood can be perilous for human travellers, but even more so for goblins or gnolls. The elven heart is unfathomable to non-elves; they are moved to wild delight, dark melancholy, or burning rage with only the slightest cause. More than anything else, elves are unpredictable, doing what pleases them from one moment to the next.

    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution
    · Immune to aging effects.
    · Immune to non-magical diseases. Elves are still affected by magical diseases such as lycanthropy and mummy rot.
    · Pass without trace in natural settings.
    · Ignore ground characteristics whem moving. An elf can travel over heavy snow, soft sand, or a treacherous mountainside as easily as a human walks across a smooth wooden floor.
    · Favoured Class: Sorcerer.
    · Racial Feats: Forester, Stealthy, Strong Soul, Survivor.
    · ECL: +1

    Half Elf:
    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · +2 Charisma
    · +2 racial saving throw bonus against Aging effects and non-magical Disease.
    · Racial Feats: Cosmopolitan, Stealthy, Strong Soul, Survivor
    · ECL: +0

    Halfling:
    Cerilian halflings once dwelled in the Shadow World, a realm of faerie enchantment parallel to Cerilia. That realm was poisoned by the rise of the Usurper, a gathering evil that corrupted their homeland, and they fled to the daylight world to escape his power. Cerilian halflings retain the ability to see and travel into and through the Shadow World.

    As per the 3rd edition PHB but with the following additional changes:
    · Halflings may use detect evil, detect undead, and detect magic (necromantic only) once per day as if cast by a sorcerer of their character level.
    · Halflings may use dimension door and shadow walk once per week as if cast by a sorcerer of their character level.
    · Racial Feats: Luck of Heroes, Smooth Talk, Stealthy, Strong Soul.
    · ECL: +1

    Note: all the races have the option of selecting Racial or Regional feats. Many of these were taken from the FRCS and I'm not going to describe them all right here. What I did do was provide 4 such feats to every race for the purposes of balance.
    I see no reason why cerilian dwarves have a charisma penalty. There is nothing in the campaign setting info that would indicate this. Trying to emulate the 3rd ed races is too much of an anchor in this regard. Dwarves a very good clerics and business folk, having a charisma penalty reduces their effectiveness in each. The +2 to strength for carrying capacity seems kind of weak and doesn't yield that much of an increase compared to the 2nd ed setting rules. No dex penalty for cerilian dwarves - this doesn't seem right (desregarding the 2nd ed modidifers) to correspond with the increased density of the dwarves. You will need to create modified tables for weight incsteaad of simply stated the range.

    Khinasi - should be some kind of knowledge based benefits since their culture values knowledge above most other things. Innuendo as a class skill is a better fit for Brecht than Khinasi. Having any one knowledge based skill or even spellcraft being a class skill for Khinasi seems more appropriate.

    As written I guess elves are a +1 ECL, although using a charisma bonus as an equivalent unbalanced ability score adjustment is sort of weak. But by using this logic then half-elves are also a +1 ECL race since you are giving them an unblanced ability score adjustment.

    Halflings really don't have anything that equates to an ECL modifier. Using Savage Species as a guidleine for what constitutes and ECL (note a guidline only) any ability that has a limited number of uses doesn't qualify. And their shadow abilities are of limited use. Now if they were as as desired they would end up with an ECL.

    I really wouldn't use the FRCS as a sources for regional feats since they are campaign specific and not general. Instead I'd make up your own to describe the "feel" of the cultures.

    Many people seem to want to layer Birthright onto the FRCS, IMO this is wrong it is a completely different setting. This wasn't done with Grehawk, Ravenloft, Oriental Adventures, nor is it being done with the 3rd ed Dark Sun setting. A setting should be unique or else it is not worthy of being it's own setting.

    What is meant by racial or regional feats? These are not bonus feats are they? I would assume that they are just restrictive choices for an initial character creation (i.e., a character's 1st level feat can be either a general, racial or regional one).
    Duane Eggert

  3. #3
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    One other thing I noticed, why do elves get pass without trace? While it seems logical it wasn't something they had in 2nd ed.
    Duane Eggert

  4. #4
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    On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, irdeggman wrote:
    > One other thing I noticed, why do elves get pass without trace? While
    > it seems logical it wasn`t something they had in 2nd ed.

    I think they did. It wasn`t listed as a spell-like ability, just as
    something they all did, the easiest way to model it is to just give them
    it as a spell-like ability though.
    --
    Daniel McSorley

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  5. #5
    Site Moderator Ariadne's Avatar
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    Originally posted by irdeggman

    One other thing I noticed, why do elves get pass without trace? While it seems logical it wasn't something they had in 2nd ed.
    Wasn't that one of the typical BR 2nd ED advantages of elves? Why should they loose it?
    May Khirdai always bless your sword and his lightning struck your enemies!

  6. #6
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    Originally posted by DanMcSorley


    On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, irdeggman wrote:
    > One other thing I noticed, why do elves get pass without trace? While
    > it seems logical it wasn`t something they had in 2nd ed.

    I think they did. It wasn`t listed as a spell-like ability, just as
    something they all did, the easiest way to model it is to just give them
    it as a spell-like ability though.
    --
    Daniel McSorley
    My bad - it was specifically listed as an ability they posses, exactly as proposed.
    Duane Eggert

  7. #7
    Kalien
    Guest
    Originally posted by irdeggman
    I see no reason why cerilian dwarves have a charisma penalty. There is nothing in the campaign setting info that would indicate this. Trying to emulate the 3rd ed races is too much of an anchor in this regard. Dwarves a very good clerics and business folk, having a charisma penalty reduces their effectiveness in each. The +2 to strength for carrying capacity seems kind of weak and doesn't yield that much of an increase compared to the 2nd ed setting rules. No dex penalty for cerilian dwarves - this doesn't seem right (desregarding the 2nd ed modidifers) to correspond with the increased density of the dwarves. You will need to create modified tables for weight incsteaad of simply stated the range.

    Khinasi - should be some kind of knowledge based benefits since their culture values knowledge above most other things. Innuendo as a class skill is a better fit for Brecht than Khinasi. Having any one knowledge based skill or even spellcraft being a class skill for Khinasi seems more appropriate.

    As written I guess elves are a +1 ECL, although using a charisma bonus as an equivalent unbalanced ability score adjustment is sort of weak. But by using this logic then half-elves are also a +1 ECL race since you are giving them an unblanced ability score adjustment.

    Halflings really don't have anything that equates to an ECL modifier. Using Savage Species as a guidleine for what constitutes and ECL (note a guidline only) any ability that has a limited number of uses doesn't qualify. And their shadow abilities are of limited use. Now if they were as as desired they would end up with an ECL.

    I really wouldn't use the FRCS as a sources for regional feats since they are campaign specific and not general. Instead I'd make up your own to describe the "feel" of the cultures.

    Many people seem to want to layer Birthright onto the FRCS, IMO this is wrong it is a completely different setting. This wasn't done with Grehawk, Ravenloft, Oriental Adventures, nor is it being done with the 3rd ed Dark Sun setting. A setting should be unique or else it is not worthy of being it's own setting.

    What is meant by racial or regional feats? These are not bonus feats are they? I would assume that they are just restrictive choices for an initial character creation (i.e., a character's 1st level feat can be either a general, racial or regional one).
    OK, I'll try to deal with these in order just to explain my thinking.

    1. I gave dwarves a Charisma penalty because in BR they are portrayed as clannish and generally isolationist. Not given to widespread social interaction with other cultures and races, they lack in social skills. They are, IMO, good merchants becuase they have goods that everyone wants, not because they are great merchants. Though you are right in that the increased density of Cerilian dwarves may make a Dex penalty more likely. I'll be thinking about that :)

    2. I did think about knowledge-based skills for the Khinasi but couldn't see a justification for giving every siingle Khinasi knowledge skills. Of course, many in the city-states would have them but not those out in the Tarvan Waste. So I gave Khinasi the ability to take the education feat which makes all knowledge skills class skills. Innuendo enables Khinasi to understand (and transmit) the unsaid requirements and expectation of sayim, what people expect the character to do in order to keep, or gain, face. This is something they are all surrounded with on a daily basis and therefore might all pick up.

    3. Elves are definitely a +1 ECL race, but not because they have +2 to Charisma. They are a +1 ECL race due to the other racial abilities they possess that make them a 'tougher' race than those presented in the PHB. A +2 bonus to Charisma does not by itself make Half Elves a +1 ECL race and I didn't think the other abilities I gave them warranted an ECL penalty.

    4. IMO Halflings are an ECL race because the abilities they possess make them a 'tougher' race than that presented in the PHB. (Note that they still have all the abilities contained in the PHB). While some of the abilities they gain are of limited utility (such as detect undead or detect necromantic magic) others are potentially game altering and significantly affect the survivability of the race (such as dimension door and shadow walking).

    5. Racial and Regional feats are not bonus feats. They are feats the character is allowed to choose because they come from a certain race or region (they still have to choose them, they're not freebies). They exist to reflect racial and regional differences and to add flavour. The feats I chose to import from the FRCS were chosen because the benefits they bestow also reflected racial or regional characteristics in BR. They weren't imported because they came from the FRCS - I looked through every source I had available and it just so happened that the FRCS contained more feats that suited BR than those other sources.

    Personally I see no reason not to import feats from another setting provided they fit the current setting. All the PHB feats exist in the FRCS setting, but we freely use those too without making BR somehow less Birthright. If the feat fits a BR race or region, then use it. If it doesn't, then don't use it. It's not a matter of making BR more like the FRCS, it's using material that exists elsewhere to help bring out what makes Birthright distinctive. If someone else has a good idea that fits the BR setting then I am going to use it, I suppose its as simple as that really.

    Thanks for your feedback.

  8. #8
    > Kalien wrote:
    <<<<SNIP>>>>

    Hello Kalien,

    I did something similar to your work but ultimately scrapped it because I felt that too many in the BR PBEM section would find it difficult to naviagate. But, I liked what you did.

    I did write up all of that information [maybe in the archives somewhere] and meant to get it out to compare notes. I broke Anuire down into the five different cultural areas [Southern Coast, Heartlands, Eastern Marches, etc...]. That worked for me since I did not need many characters from outside realms.

    I use a toned down channeler from MIDNIGHT/Wheel of Time, as well as the Woodsman, and then the Star Wars noble. A surprising number of people have made positive comments about the classes allowed in the game [one truly negative].

    In hindsight, I think that people are willing to tolerate a good deal of change to the Races/Classes, as long as it is decently done. I might have pushed for my customised racial write-ups if I had known. So, go for it.

    Eosin~Randy

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  9. #9
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    Okay, let's take a look here.

    A dwarf’s dense body takes only half damage from bludgeoning weapons.
    This should be changed to damage reduction - that's the proper 3e way of representing this idea. Now, there is a couple of throwback rules in the 3e monster manual (notably, the treant and the skeleton), but with the upcoming revised edition, these should be weeded out properly. Something like DR 5/slashing or piercing sounds appropriate.

    Dwarves are one of the more powerful races all around in the PHB - still, I'm not quite sure that the abilities you add are enough to warrant a level adjustment. I would replace the charisma penalty with a dexterity penalty and increase the constitution bonus to +4. Their density should also bless them with a nice -20 penalty on Swim checks or so. An ability that is also being added in the revised 3e is almost a definite must for Cerilian dwarves: A +4 bonus to resist bull rush and trip attempts.

    Immune to non-magical diseases. Elves are still affected by magical diseases such as lycanthropy and mummy rot.
    Rephrase - it should be "immune to extraordinary diseases" and "still affected by supernatural diseases" - those are the proper 3e terms in this case.

    For the Elves in general that you stipulate, immunity to aging attacks is pretty much a non-bonus, given its rarity, immunity to disease is nice, but, again, not necessarily a common event; the flower power abilities are also nice, but not all that big - the race is a +1 level adjustment, but barely, and mainly due to the combination of all those extra elements with the ability adjustments and the favored class. If anything, and if possible, I would've added something else or strengthened them a little in some area to make the +1 level adjustment properly worthwhile.

    1. A +1 bonus to any one save equates with a +2 bonus to any one skill.
    2. Skill bonuses should only be given to non-exclusive class skills that can be used untrained (for example, giving someone +1 to Spellcraft is pointless as most people can't use Spellcraft. Unless you make Spellcraft a class skill for a group of people based on region, ethnicity, or some other criteria).
    3. Making a skill a class skill for a character equates to a +1 bonus to any one skill.
    I'm not sure this is a good philosophy to begin with. For most characters, I think a +1 bonus to a single save is better than a +2 bonus to all but a few skills. A +1 bonus on will saves would usually trump a +2 bonus on sleight of hand, craft (alchemy) or survival, for instance - but not necessarily a +2 bonus on Spot checks. I'd be careful with doing this in a formulaic fashion, and rather look at the "adventuring usefulness" of the skills involved. I think most characters would be better off with a +2 on Spot than they would on a +2 on three different Craft skills, or a +2 on Perform (unless they have a certain class ability based on Perform, which must be taken into consideration, of course). Stipulating that racial skill bonuses need to be in skills that can be used untrained sounds good to me.

    The human races look fairly balanced to me, though I'm not quite sure if adding benefits essentially amounting to an extra bonus feat is a good idea without somehow limiting them somewhat in another area, especially given that the races with level adjustments are somewhat weak. How about giving each human region a favored class (like Anuire: Fighter, Khinasi: Magician, Rjurik: Ranger, Brecht: Rogue, Vos: Barbarian) instead, to replace their normal favored class ability?

    I like giving the half-elf a little boost without putting him into the +1 level adjustment range - the PHB version is a little weak. A +2 charisma bonus might be a bit over the top, though.
    Jan E. Juvstad.

  10. #10
    Kalien
    Guest
    Originally posted by Mark_Aurel
    This should be changed to damage reduction - that's the proper 3e way of representing this idea. Now, there is a couple of throwback rules in the 3e monster manual (notably, the treant and the skeleton), but with the upcoming revised edition, these should be weeded out properly. Something like DR 5/slashing or piercing sounds appropriate.

    Dwarves are one of the more powerful races all around in the PHB - still, I'm not quite sure that the abilities you add are enough to warrant a level adjustment. I would replace the charisma penalty with a dexterity penalty and increase the constitution bonus to +4. Their density should also bless them with a nice -20 penalty on Swim checks or so. An ability that is also being added in the revised 3e is almost a definite must for Cerilian dwarves: A +4 bonus to resist bull rush and trip attempts.
    I did think about stating this out as DR, but I know that the rules for DR are changing between 3e and 3.5e and I'm not familiar with how they're changing. The game itself won't start until after 3.5 is released and to avoid direct contradictions with 3.5 I left it as "half damage". And even with DR in 3e, WotC didn't hesitate to say that Skeletons take half damage from slashing attacks.

    The penalty to swim checks is a good idea. One could also include a note about the Ride skill as few beasts of burden could carry the heavier dwarves of BR. Abilities in 3.5 such as the bonus to resist bull rush and trip attempts will be included as its my intention to have the standard races mirror those in the 3.5 PHB with the addition of a few BR specific abilities.

    Rephrase - it should be "immune to extraordinary diseases" and "still affected by supernatural diseases" - those are the proper 3e terms in this case.
    That's not how disease is described in 3e where races or classes have resistance to disease (e.g., as paladins and monks do). If that is how they are going to be described in 3.5 then I will change the description but otherwise I'll leave it as is.

    For most characters, I think a +1 bonus to a single save is better than a +2 bonus to all but a few skills. A +1 bonus on will saves would usually trump a +2 bonus on sleight of hand, craft (alchemy) or survival, for instance - but not necessarily a +2 bonus on Spot checks. I'd be careful with doing this in a formulaic fashion, and rather look at the "adventuring usefulness" of the skills involved. I think most characters would be better off with a +2 on Spot than they would on a +2 on three different Craft skills, or a +2 on Perform (unless they have a certain class ability based on Perform, which must be taken into consideration, of course). Stipulating that racial skill bonuses need to be in skills that can be used untrained sounds good to me.
    I did try to take account of play aspects as well as looking at formula. This is one reason why I selected Innuendo as a skill for Khinasi - because it is a useful skill in politically-oriented domain games whereas Rjurik & Vos (who get a save bonus) have a bonus to a skill that is less useful in these respects. Anuireans come out slightly ahead as they get a save bonus as well as a bonus to a useful in-game skill (diplomacy).

    The human races look fairly balanced to me, though I'm not quite sure if adding benefits essentially amounting to an extra bonus feat is a good idea without somehow limiting them somewhat in another area, especially given that the races with level adjustments are somewhat weak. How about giving each human region a favored class (like Anuire: Fighter, Khinasi: Magician, Rjurik: Ranger, Brecht: Rogue, Vos: Barbarian) instead, to replace their normal favored class ability?
    What I am envisaging for the game once it gets underway is that almost all regents of whatever type will have levels in an NPC or non-PHB class such as Aristocrat (which I've re-written). As such, almost all regents will be multi-classed simply in order to gain access to the skills a regent requires (as well as to pick up class abilities that enable them to do their jobs as a regent better). To introduce a game mechanic such as human favoured classes that restricts this doesn't sit too well in what will be a humanocentric.

    I like giving the half-elf a little boost without putting him into the +1 level adjustment range - the PHB version is a little weak. A +2 charisma bonus might be a bit over the top, though.
    I thought the +2 Charisma bonus was nice as it provides a bonus to social interaction skills without having a power-gaming effect such as improved saving throws, hit points, attack rolls, etc. It only adds "power" in these terms if the Half-Elf takes levels in a class that has Charisma-based spellcasting abilities - and as I personally see Half-Elves in BR having a tendency towards these classes anyway (bards & sorcerers) I didn't see it as a large problem. And it reflects their unearthly beauty inherited from their sidhe parent (as described in the BR Rulebook).

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