Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Playable Ancestries of Centras

I bounce between lots of systems and stuff but in general these are ancestries that you can pick if you're playing in one of my games. They go in conjunction with class choice and affect saving throws sometimes.  This stuff is mostly based off of how Basic Fantasy does things but was also inspired by Wizzzargh's houserules for their open table games. DCC and other stuff was an inspiration as well.


Humans

  • 10% reduction in amount of XP needed to level up. 
  • Humans and only humans get to wield swords, which deal damage one step higher than whatever their normal damage dice would be. d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d10, and so forth.
Most people you meet will be humans.

Elves

  • Roll an extra 3d6 for an additional Luck stat. Luck can be tested (1d20+luck ≥ 20) or permanently spent to reroll dice after learning the result.
  • Elves have "darkvision" but it's function depends on lineage:
    • The Lineage of Days can see twice as far in low-light and can see as normal when underneath a starry sky. They can also see through smoke, ash, and flame as though it weren't there.
    • The Lineage of Nights have echolocation that works best in subterranean or forested environments. They can also see through non-magical fog, mist, and dirty water as if it were clear.

Elves are rare to encounter outside their own small settlements.


Dwarves

  • Don't have conventional names. They always seem to know which Dwarf you're referring to though. Trying to give them nicknames is unspeakably rude, but adventuring Dwarfs will allow friends to refer to them by the primary color of their clothing. Such dwarfs must be careful to change this color at least once a week.
  • Have immunity against targeted magics and curses. This still leaves them vulnerable to area-of-effect spells like fireball but renders them immune to spells like sleep.
  • Dwarven "darkvision" is actually thermal vision. 
It is common for Dwarfs to settle in enclaves within the settlements of other races, though they also have their own city-states. Dwarfs 'shed' their name in a coming of age ceremony called the ritual of mirrors, and any adult dwarf who becomes too attached to a name risks the wrath of a strange psychic-mirror-vampire-monster.

Halflings

There aren't any of the original hairy-footed agrarian types left in Centras, but for playable small-folk-

Kestrels: Resemble their more traditional halfling ancestors, but are born with feather birthmark "tattoos" that move and dance across their skin. Rarely, they will be born with bird-like features like talons, patches of actual feathers, or raptor eyes (but never wings). Kestrels can glide short distances.


Mice: Child-sized talking rodents. Mice can use sewing needles (stats as swords) or seam-rippers(stats as axes) as special weapons that can even harm spirit-beings. (Magic weapons without the bonuses, basically)

Kestrels tend to be nomadic, but couples will occasionally settle down among other populaces. Mice can be found wherever humans can be found.




Short post, but I just wanted to get something down. Hopefully someone finds it fun and gameable, or at least enjoyed the read. I love reading about unique twists to classic fantasy races so if you have some of your own you'd like to share please link it in the comments!

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