New 3.5 Races for an Island Campaign PEACH

[Talkan]

For a campaign I'm designing, there are frequent raids by Orcs, and in the Human Lands, Half-Orcs are the result. I want to make an equivalent for each of the PHB races. I thought about making a template, but I would rather have each race have it's own flavor and be relatively unique. I'm calling them Orc-blooded to distinguish them from Half-Orcs. Here is what I have so far. It needs a lot of work. Right now, I'm trying to design them to be unlikely to be played, despised by society, and all-around undesirable.

Orc-blooded Dwarves-
+2 Str, +2 Con, -4 Cha.
They are Medium Creatures with a base land speed of 20 feet. They don't suffer penalties to speed from a medium or heavy load.
Darkvision 60 feet.
+2 to saving throws against poison. They retain the toughness of their Dwarven Heritage.
Hated blood- Due to their heritage, they are hated by all Dwarves. They take a -2 penalty to all cha-based checks towards Dwarves.
Stoneskin- Due to their thick skin, Orc-blooded Dwarves have +2 NA bonus to AC
Favored Class: Fighter


Orc-blooded Elves-
+2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.
Medium; speed of 40 feet.
Darkvision 30 feet, lowlight vision.
+5 to saving throws against sleep effects.
Can either Trance for 6 hours or sleep for 8.
On the run: Used to living in the Wild, Orc-blooded Elves have +2 to survival checks and + 10 to movement speed.
Favored Class: Druidic Avenger


Orc-blooded Gnomes-

+2 Con, -2 Wis
Medium; Speed 20 feet; Slight Build
Darkvision 30 feet, lowlight vision.
+2 bonus to saving throws against illusions
Burrow Speed: 10 feet. The Orc blood in them brings out the more primal parts of the Gnomish heritage.


Orc-blooded Halflings-
+2 dex, -2 Cha
Medium; speed 20 feet; Slight Build
Darkvision 30 feet, lowlight vision
Athletic: Orc-blooded Halflings receive +4 racial bonus to all Str- and Dex-based checks


Orc-Blooded Goblins

+2 str, +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Cha
Medium; Speed 30; Slight Build
Darkvision 60 ft
+4 to move silently, hide, and ride checks
Orc-blooded Goblins receive Ride-by Attack as a Bonus Feat


Orc-Blooded Hobgoblins
+4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha
Medium; Speed 30
+6 to move silently and intimidate checks
Orc-blooded Hobgoblins gain Power Attack as a Bonus feat.


Orc-Blooded Kobolds

+2 Dex, -2 Cha
Medium; Speed 20; Slight Build
Darkvision 60 ft
Draconic Hide: +1 to AC
Claws: An Orc-blooded Kobold can choose to make a natural weapon attack with one or both claws, dealing 1d3 each. (?)
Light sensitivity


This is pretty basic, and I need some input to finish them. What do you guys think? In case you are wondering, I do not have a vendetta against these races. I'm just designing them to match my campaign and the views and prejudices of the playable races.

Update 1: Yeah, the Dwarves did have too many penalties... Hopefully I fixed that.
Took out the -1 penalties.
Added some other stuff for the Halflings and Gnomes.
Update 2: Changed smaller races to have Slight Build. Changed base speeds. Added Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Kobolds to the list. They are just being shelled out right now and definitely need more work and a lot of refining, so don't judge them too harshly just yet. Actually, you can judge them harshly, just please make sure you add some constructive criticism with it. I'd like each race to have an ability that makes sense with it, but I'm having trouble figuring some of them out. If you could help with that, that would be great.
Update 3: Changed the Rage-like abilities to more unique abilities. Also changed the Gnomes' racial ability modifiers to make them more unique. Changed the Elves' Racial ability Modifiers to make them more fit for a reckless warrior. There will be more to come later.
Update 4: More work on the Kobolds, Goblins, and hobgoblins. Working on an Orc-Blooded Template as well.

[Empedocles]

Take out -1 penalties. Those are always a bad idea, and half the time they don't make a difference, and the other half the time they're stupid.

I like the idea though :smallsmile:

[Zale]

Quite frankly, the Dwarves seem to have far to many penalties...

[EdroGrimshell]

... The orc-blooded elves are ideal for warrior classes on an extreme level, add in one of the environmental types (like desert) and you could very well have the perfect LA 0 warrior race. I like it actually, give the elves dark (but not quite black) skin, fangs, and a taller and slightly more muscular frame, it gives a very good image of the strong and dextrous warrior.

Personally i like it, and would definitely play it more than the other comboes. And you have officially given me my next race idea, THANKS!

[Talkan]

Okay, updated it. Thanks for the feedback. What racial features do you guys think I could give the other Orc-blooded Races? I added one of the racial features of the non-Orc parent race, but I would prefer to have some stuff unique to them.

[EdroGrimshell]

First, for the small races + orc hybrids, make them small with powerful build or medium with slight build, and keep the speeds at a multiple of 10, you don't usually see a "5ft" land speed unless you have the Dash feat, the base speed of a creature is 5ft, or you're wearing medium or heavy armor.

Also, I'd like to see a goblin/orc, a kobold/orc, and a hobgoblin/orc.

As for the unique features, I don't really know, it'd need to be thematic and fit the non-orc parent to a degree while emphasizing the orc as well. Hm, well, I can get one for the dwarf and the elf, give the dwarf a "Rage Lite" ability, sort of like the maenad from the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

As for the elf, I'd say to give them something to emphasize both the grace of the elf and the power of the orc, or give some kind of primordial magic ability.

[Talkan]

First, for the small races + orc hybrids, make them small with powerful build or medium with slight build, and keep the speeds at a multiple of 10, you don't usually see a "5ft" land speed unless you have the Dash feat, the base speed of a creature is 5ft, or you're wearing medium or heavy armor.

Also, I'd like to see a goblin/orc, a kobold/orc, and a hobgoblin/orc.

As for the unique features, I don't really know, it'd need to be thematic and fit the non-orc parent to a degree while emphasizing the orc as well. Hm, well, I can get one for the dwarf and the elf, give the dwarf a "Rage Lite" ability, sort of like the maenad from the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

As for the elf, I'd say to give them something to emphasize both the grace of the elf and the power of the orc, or give some kind of primordial magic ability.

Ok, Thanks for the advice. Especially about the Slight Build and base land speeds. I like the ideas for the Dwarf and Elf Abilities. I wasn't planning on using Goblins, Hobgoblins, or Kobolds extensively in my campaign, but I'd be more than willing to try and make one for each of those.
For the Elf I think I'm going to try and do something that emphasizes both the grace of Elves and power of Orcs, but for primordial magic ability, do you mean give them something like the Gnomes' Speak with Animals (burrowing only) ability? Or do you mean something completely different?

Edit:

Also for the Elves: If the Dwarves get a watered-down Rage-like ability, would it make sense to give the Elves a watered-down Whirling Frenzy-like ability? I think that addresses both the agility and power of the parents.

[EdroGrimshell]

For the Elf I think I'm going to try and do something that emphasizes both the grace of Elves and power of Orcs, but for primordial magic ability, do you mean give them something like the Gnomes' Speak with Animals (burrowing only) ability? Or do you mean something completely different?

Eh, it was just a suggestion, really, i didn't put all that much thought into an ability it could be.


Also for the Elves: If the Dwarves get a watered-down Rage-like ability, would it make sense to give the Elves a watered-down Whirling Frenzy-like ability? I think that addresses both the agility and power of the parents.

That works just fine, it was my initial thought as well but i thought it'd be too similar, hence why i didn't suggest it initially.

[Talkan]

That works just fine, it was my initial thought as well but i thought it'd be too similar, hence why i didn't suggest it initially.
For me, personally, having some things be similar isn't too terrible. It might also work pretty well, because it gives them a theme that could be nice when determining the others' abilities. I might even do something similar to Wild Surge* for Gnomes, but make it for Arcane casters rather than Psionics.


*That is what the Wilder feature that boosts caster level is called, isn't it?

Edit: Now that I'm doing this, I might want to create an Alternative Half-Orc with a rage-like ability usable once per day. Do you think that's a good idea?

[EdroGrimshell]

Hm, I was thinking a more tribal thing (i got an idea for a tribal society of orcs and orc hybrids)

Now, I've been brainstorming and came up with the following:

Dwarf-Orc = Stone Hide (Natural Armor bonus)

Elf-Orc = Increased speed

Halfling-Orc = Athletic Boost (Increase to Str- and Dex-based skill checks)

Gnome-Orc = I'm thinking a burrow speed here. That's really all i got for them for some reason.

EDIT: Giving roughly half a class feature is kinda powerful, so i thought that giving a more minor bonus would be a good idea here.

[Talkan]

Hm, I was thinking a more tribal thing (i got an idea for a tribal society of orcs and orc hybrids)

Now, I've been brainstorming and came up with the following:

Dwarf-Orc = Stone Hide (Natural Armor bonus)

Elf-Orc = Increased speed

Halfling-Orc = Athletic Boost (Increase to Str- and Dex-based skill checks)

Gnome-Orc = I'm thinking a burrow speed here. That's really all i got for them for some reason.

EDIT: Giving roughly half a class feature is kinda powerful, so i thought that giving a more minor bonus would be a good idea here.

Actually, I think that's probably a good idea. I looked back at it, and I thought the same thing, but I liked how they were and didn't really want to change them. I'm shooting for LA +0, so I think I'll do something similar to your new ideas.

EDIT: Actually, I would suggest looking at the Voldur. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238557) I'm tempted to scrap my Orc-blooded Elf and just use this in it's place. I might finish it, even if I use the Voldur, just so that I can have a complete set of my own home-brewed race. Credit for the Voldur goes to Vilpich.

[EdroGrimshell]

The modifications look good, i like 'em.

[Eloel]

Orc-blooded Elves-
+2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.
Medium; speed of 40 feet.
Darkvision 30 feet, lowlight vision.
+5 to saving throws against sleep effects.
Can either Trance for 6 hours or sleep for 8.
On the run: Used to living in the Wild, Orc-blooded Elves have +2 to survival checks and + 10 to movement speed.
Favored Class: Druidic Avenger



There was some theory somewhere that this was the simplest combination to make. You just add 1 skillpoint per level (4 at 1st), give it a bonus feat, and call it a day, without all the abilities and mambo-jambo.

[EdroGrimshell]

There was some theory somewhere that this was the simplest combination to make. You just add 1 skillpoint per level (4 at 1st), give it a bonus feat, and call it a day, without all the abilities and mambo-jambo.

Why? There's no human in that combo. It's an Elf/Orc Hybrid, not an Elf/Orc/Human Hybrid

[Eloel]

Why? There's no human in that combo. It's an Elf/Orc Hybrid, not an Elf/Orc/Human Hybrid

That's the point.
(Big, Stupid, Short-Lived, Savage Orc + Graceful, Wise, Long-Lived, Civilized Elf) / 2 = Average Human.

[Talkan]

That's the point.
(Big, Stupid, Short-Lived, Savage Orc + Graceful, Wise, Long-Lived, Civilized Elf) / 2 = Average Human.

This might work well in other settings, but in mine, each race is distinct and there isn't anything like that. I also disagree with this, but I don't want to get into an argument over it. And if I was going to do this, I might as well make the Orc/Halfling hybrid a Goblin, the Orc/Gnome hybrid a Hobgoblin, and the Orc/Dwarf hybrid a Bugbear. I've heard this argument before, and I personally don't like the concept. Thanks you for your suggestion, though.

[Empedocles]

That's the point.
(Big, Stupid, Short-Lived, Savage Orc + Graceful, Wise, Long-Lived, Civilized Elf) / 2 = Average Human.

Isn't that like saying if a man and a woman have a child, the child will be a hermaphrodite?

Not trying to be rude lol, but I find that that train of thought destroys many possibilities and isn't very realistic.

[Eloel]

Isn't that like saying if a man and a woman have a child, the child will be a hermaphrodite?

Not trying to be rude lol, but I find that that train of thought destroys many possibilities and isn't very realistic.

I just stated that it was a theory, not mine either, that seemed plausible and could've been of interest.

Also, that analogy is pointless, because we're trying to stat up the hermaphrodite(s) anyway.

As is, the orc-elf is too much orc and not enough elf, in my opinion.

[Empedocles]

I just stated that it was a theory, not mine either, that seemed plausible and could've been of interest.

Also, that analogy is pointless, because we're trying to stat up the hermaphrodite(s) anyway.

As is, the orc-elf is too much orc and not enough elf, in my opinion.

To me it reads almost like a sort of feral elf...but I'd agree that there's not enough elf.

[Talkan]

What would you suggest to bring the Elf out more? Should I change the bonus to saving throws against sleep to the straight on elf immunity? Give it the racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot checks? Both?