Considerations of a Melting Pot Society

[tedcahill2]

I'm running a game that uses a setting that is roughly equivalent to life and technology of Europe in the 1600s.

My group has never strayed very far from the PH races, so to sort of force them out of that habit I have hand picked the major races in this setting. They are: Whisper Gnome, Goliath, Raptoran, Human, Dragonborn (but as a stand alone race and not a template), Elan, Maenad, Xeph, Warforged and Tibbit.

Dwarves and Elves are ancient races that no longer exist. Most of the ruins in this world would be of Dwarven and Elven origin. Halfling, PH gnomes, Half-orcs, and Half-elves have simply never existed.

When I read the descriptions of the various races in the books I imagine they were written with an early time setting in mind; more medieval (1300s or 1400s time period). So since my setting is a few hundred years after this, I'm trying to work through how each of these races would be in this setting. Goliaths and Raptoran aren't all living on mountains still, major cities are going to have a diverse population of races, and humans might be a bit more racist as the non-human races population grows and they become less of a majority.

These are my thoughts, but I know I'm missing so much. Does anyone have suggestions or insights? Or maybe you have experience with similar settings.

[ShurikVch]

Dragonborn (but as a stand alone race and not a template)

Dragonborn Life:

She has no drive to procreate, and dragonborn are in fact sterile.
Even if peculiarities of circumstances lead to a dragonborn coupling with another creature, no child ever results.

[Wristlet Eater]

If he is the DM and making this setting he can definitely change a bit of fluff.

You can't have a sterile race, it just doesn't work. So it needs to be changed.

[ShurikVch]

You can't have a sterile race, it just doesn't work.

Elans do.

EDIT: Warforged too.

[Pleh]

Life and technology in the 1600s makes the idea of Warforged slightly confusing. I know "magic" is the answer, but exactly how common are these warforged meant to be? They are still built by someone, yes?

Just how magical/techological are these races intended to be? It makes the idea of living in 1600s europe seem rather strange when they have such ready access to power to lift themselves out of those conditions.

[tedcahill2]

Life and technology in the 1600s makes the idea of Warforged slightly confusing. I know "magic" is the answer, but exactly how common are these warforged meant to be? They are still built by someone, yes?

Just how magical/techological are these races intended to be? It makes the idea of living in 1600s europe seem rather strange when they have such ready access to power to lift themselves out of those conditions.

I'm including a dragon age-esque magical element, like lyrium. Warforged were created (in a purely contruct form) to mine it. After years of these contructs being damage or lost in lyrium mines their creator found a way to give them sentience, making them smart enough avoid the dangers of lyrium mining.

So that the why of warforged existing. They are not incredibly common, and the person that created them has since died along with the secret of making more warforged.

Yes much of the dragonborn fluff will be changing. They are closer to the 4th edition dragonborn in fluff.

I'm not totally sure what you mean about "It makes the idea of living in 1600s europe seem rather strange when they have such ready access to power to lift themselves out of those conditions."

[Gildedragon]

Well what are the big changes from the 15th C to the 17th C (note that I'm only gonna be talking about Europe and its spheren of influence)

Discovery of a new continent and its conquest

Widespread use of gunpowder

A population crash following a massive plague

The collapse of a cultural hub to foreign invasion, which caused intellectuals to flee and set up shop elsewhere, leading to a rediscovery of old scholarship and the difusion of new knowledge

This very invasion also leads to the closing off of crucial trade routes, forcing people to look for new ones (leading to the first point)

Also those invaders have a very fancy empire going on.

The gradual weakening of the central continental church... leading to increasing dogmatism by said church as it fights for relevance and to retain power with others

There's also the rise of the mercantile class and mercenary class as real powerhouses

Overall for the feel of a renaissance, in any sense, one must have the memory of a recent collapse looming in mind. As well as a sense of (re)discovery and increased size of the world.
And lastly a sense of humanism.

Figure out which cataclysms you want to have flipped the world out; and which revolutions have upended it.
-----

Have humans be the ones that displaced the mountain folk with their growing empire

Have wizardry be a "new thing" (or a rediscovered old thing

Have Clerics of Ideals and Archivists be a (actually) new things

War Spells are a thing

The 1600s is also the Golden Age of Piracy... so that's a quick shorthand

Instead of The Black Plague, have the previous social order have been hit with a Wightocalypse or some other spawning undead; too fast and virulent for clerics to do anything about it. (Hence ghoul isn't recommended, the disease DC is too low).
Warforged were developed to fight the undead, as divine magic as just not up to the task.


But probably the simplest way to have a 1600s feeling setting: Pirates

[Sam K]

If you have access to them and time to read, the discworld novels (especially the later ones, and the ones centered on the city-state of Ankh-Morpork) does show an example of a society going from "traditional fantasy" to a more renaissance (and in some aspects, nearly Victorian) setting.

Some of the interesting things that occur are:

Humans are losing the feeling of being a majority in their own cities. They are losing jobs to "mountain races" (dwarves and trolls in discworld) as well as magical constructs (golems), who have become sentinent and free. Many humans get rich through embracing these new things, but more conservative factions are concerned with the degradation of "traditional values". Racism is becoming more polarized: most people get more comfortable with having dwarves and trolls and goblins be part of the city life, but the ones who do not like it REALLY don't.

In turn, the mountain races are also feeling the changing times. The human city of Ankh-Morpork is now the largest dwarven city in the world. More and more dwarves and trolls are abandoning the old ways, which is causing a backlash of fundamentalism.

Finally, and most importantly (for PCs), it's giving birth to a new type of heroes. The heartlands are becoming more controlled, and the monster slaying heroes of old are being replaced with a more urban, sophisticated (in some cases...) and street smart players. There are fewer dark temples to raid and dungeons to explore, but more conspiracies to uncover and plots to foil.

[Wristlet Eater]

Elans do.

EDIT: Warforged too.

Okay, you can't have a sterile race that is not artificially created.

[Goaty14]

What are you going to do about Level Adjustment?

[The Viscount]

Eberron's a great example of this sort of world, with a more advanced civilization with most races living in cities.

[Gildedragon]

Eberron's a great example of this sort of world, with a more advanced civilization with most races living in cities.

Though Eberron has more of an 1880s to 1920s feel to it...

[Goaty14]

Though Eberron has more of an 1880s to 1920s feel to it...

Felt like a 1920s-1940s, Y'know like a war ending, then a war about to start.

[tedcahill2]

What are you going to do about Level Adjustment?

For the Goliath? I have toned them down from their Races of Stone entry to make them LA +0.