itt: non-cliche and/or non-standard fantasy races

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2013/10/i-killed-all-humans.html

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>>51303411

>>51303411
Too many stereotypes associated with each race, but otherwise neat.

>>51303771
Eh, you don't often see races patterned after Savannah tribes/bushmen or Southeast Asian tribes, like the anti-NVA/VC tribes in Vietnam.

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>>51303341
ALWAYS RAT

ALL THE TIME

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>>51303341
Muhfuggin Grippli

>>51304004
d a t b o i ! ! !

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Hogglesnoggs

>>51303341
Inb4 everyone just posts humanoid animals because "no one has done ___ people yet that makes me creative!!!!"

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>>51305811
lel xD they're hyenas dat talk liek dis and they have a society where meems are the currency XDDDDDDDDD

>>51303411
>The Yellow People, dooks

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Scarecrows. A construct race that might conceivably not be played as generic robots?

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Best part of DA's setting

HORNED PEOPLE THAT ARENT DEMONS
ALSO TOTALLY NOT TIEFLINGS OR DRANEI SHUT UP THEIR MY OWN UNIQUE THING

NOBLE SAVAGE ANIMAL FOLK
WOW THEYRE NOT FURRY OK THEYRE BADASS AND WOLF HEADED FOREST PEOPLE ARE WAY TOTALLY LESS CLICHE THAN POINTY EARED FOREST PEOPLE

NOW IM GOING TO BITCH ABOUT HOW STUPID AND POINTLESS HALFINGS AND GNOMES ARE BUT CHECK OUT MY TOTALLY SICK MOUSEKIN THEYRE SHORT LITTLE RODENT PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN HOLES AND STEAL THINGS

WHY ARENT YOU GUYS AS CREATIVE AS ME I BET YOU PLAY WHITE MALES

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>>51305811

Humanoid animals are great races though.

I personally make all the humanoid animal races one unified 'race' though, just called Beastmen. Kind of generic but useful and makes it a lot easier to stat them then trying to create a unique race for cats, rats, bats, dogs and hogs, etc.

>>51306060
>Slothpeople

i will never stop crusading that Warcraft trolls are some form of Slothmen at some level of their evolution until I'm hired as Blizzard writer.

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The self-transforming machine elves maintaining the workings of reality.

>>51306054
keep posting, I want to know more about how my custom races aren't falling into these traps

>>51303341
My dm invented a race of sergal-lite wolf Vikings for his arctic campaign.

Much fun was had during those games.

Slime-people. They form themselves into a vaguely humanoid shape, but only because they've learned it makes dealing with solids a lot easier.

Ditto for speech; although capable of making sound (by vibrating their outer membrane), their natural method of communication is non-verbal, a combination of sign language and transmitting pheromones by direct contact. They learned to produce speech in order to communicate with solids. In native slime culture, vocalizing in this manner is only used for sounding alarm (basically screaming), and for music. The slimes love music, because of the way the vibrations propagating through their gelatinous bodies feels.

Since "singing" is more natural a form of making sound than "talking", slimes tend to have a distinct sing-song accent. Other quirks of slime speech include mixing up certain words that the slimes don't really have distinct concepts for, on account of their different perspective. For instance, since they have no ears, instead simply hearing by feeling vibrations in the air, they consider "hear" and "feel" essentially synonymous, and will use the two words interchangeably. Likewise for "taste" and "smell"; they have no distinct tongue or nose, but rather have chemical sense receptors distributed throughout their body.

Because slime language involves a significant contact-pheromonal component, they don't tend to have much of a concept of personal space. Those that don't deal often with solids tend to forget that things like grabbing a stranger's hand when talking to them is generally considered rude or even threatening in solid society.

>>51303341
Beast races that run on all fours are always neat. Something a bit closer to a talking animal than an animal person.
I also like golems and constructs similar to the simulacrum in titanfall, but in fantasy settings.
Bug races seem like something that would be underused.

>>51308795
sergals are unironically interesting but ruined by ceaseless autism

>>51303795
I didn't mean the cultures they were based off, I meant the parts where the author would say something like:

>Gileans are stereotyped as being introverted, melancholy, considerate, cautious, artistic, moody, sensitive, and insensitive.

That's too many stereotypes for one group. No real world ethnic groups have more than like 4 stereotypes associated with them. Especially in fiction, this overabundance of stereotypes leads to alack of identity for the race.

For instance, what are dwarves and elves stereotyped as?

>Elves: Agile, noble, powerful in magic, and close to nature.
>Dwarves: Burly, proud, excellent craftspeople, and greedy.

Notice how I only left out maybe two stereotypes of each, and that none of the stereotypes conflict with one another.

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Octopodes

Far to the north in a land of ice, the Drumvali people dwell in towers of stone. Long ago, when the world was otherwise, and elder stars still shone, the lands of the Drumvali were hot and humid, and swathed in jungle. The Drumvali built a great empire in that time, growing rich from war, trade and the pursuit of deep magic. Their capital city, Bangaro, was the envy of the world; a sprawling metropolis of steeples and spires, every home a palace, every citizen a king.

But the stars changed, and the world with it, and the jungles of the Drumvali grew cold, and withered. Snow came, and ice, and before long Bangaro rested beneath a frozen lake, a mile deep. So ended the golden age of the Drumvali, and history marched on.

Yet the ragged descendants of the Drumvali still cling to life in that waste, huddled in the highest towers of their ruined capital. They have survived through the use of preserved magic, instructing their strongest children in a heathen fire-cult. These children learn to channel fire through their bodies, heating the towers of their families. The lives of these children are short - ten years at most, before they are totally spent. But their sacrifices are enough to let the Drumvali cling to existence just a little while longer.

Though their lives are grim and cold, the Drumvali do not shun outsiders. They will teach eager pilgrims the secrets of fire, but at a cost. Would-be channelers must venture below, into frozen Bangaro where the Drumvali themselves dare not tread. Their task is to retrieve artifacts of the Drumvali's bygone age. These the Drumvali hoard above all else, for even now they dream of their empire's rebirth, and a return to the days of elder glory.

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Moffs

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>>51310750
[Adventurous Moth Noises]

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>>51303341
Birrin are pretty damn cool.

>>51303341
Humans with different cultures.

Pretty non-standard.

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crab people crab people

>>51309098
agreed, they have neat lore but it seems like only fucking morons play them

>>51309112
Point, though, really, you can append a ton of stereotypes to, let's say the Japanese - xenophobic, conservative, rigid, reserved, hard-working, risk-averse, judgmental, slow to change.

At this point, I'm nitpicking though, and you're right - there's always people who don't fit the cultural mode. I'd definitely say there has to be one "true stereotype" that's less a stereotype and more the way their culture is - like say, how Americans and Canadians are more direct in pointing out problems or talking, how East Asians don't look directly at someone, how the French argue (which easily looks like real hatred), etc.

>>51312717
Man I'd love to gm a vilous themed homebrew.
The alien biome is such a great creative tool.

>>51309098
i basically cream myself at any chance to play things that totally non humanoid, especially if you have to roleplay not having hands. ive only gotten to do it once but i always wish i could more often

>>51305985
>mute
>move in stiff, jerky motions unless no-one is watching in which case they become impossibly swift
>racial hatred of corvids and fear of fire
mite b cool

>>51303801
>>51304004
>Frog people and rat people
My favourite!

>>51306140
>Pig orcs
Also my favourite!

My third favourite is woodland animal creatures. I really want to run a medieval fantasy campaign which has a group of Redwall style animal folk - badgers, moles, hedgehogs, squirrels, foxes, etc. - who seem like jolly, Robin Hood forest men/outlaws on the surface, but are prone to animalistic behaviour and weird, disturbing, bestial shit.

>>51305985
I really fucking love constructs/robot stand ins like scarecrows, gargoyle and little clay golems over just thrusting a robot into a fantasy setting and saying 'lol its clockwork/steampowered my dude.'

>>51310690
Breddy gud

>>51311060
For some reason, I'm getting Eclipse Phase factor vibes in this.

Neanderthal

>>51303341
I like Thri-kreen
>think that sleeping is a bad habit of lazy people
>whenever they join groups they start picking fights so they can figure who their subordinates are (the people who do nothing) and who their superiors are (the people who don't take their shit)
>see LITERALLY nothing wrong with occasional cannibalism or consumption of that sweet, sweet Elf meat

>>51310750
>>51310761
I dig it. Probably because I had a fear of moths as a kid and to this day they still kind of squick me out.

>>51309029
underrated.

>>51310750
>>51310761
BRB looking for stats on moth people holy fuck what great idea!

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>>51303795

For the latter, Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts has the bamboo elves. Aside from the riding pandas; that part's batshit. But believe me, I've been looking for something like that; I essentially studied Hmong language and culture in grad school and there really isn't an outlet for that in the RPG scene.

Like, I'd love to run sort of a horror fantasy based on Thai and Hmong folktales, sort of an Indochinese Ravenloft. Yer vs the Tiger in gory splendor against a backdrop of green mountains, elaborate wats and remote villages.

>>51312800

Speaking as an American

>Canadians
>direct

I lived in Calgary for two years and I had a hell of a time figuring out when people were mad at me for the first six months or so. It's like Japan with white people. There's all these social norms that for me were totally not obvious, and I was a bull in a goddamn China shop till I figured them out.

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>>51303341
Slug people.

>>51315093

The interesting thing to think about is what role metamorphosis plays in their culture. If it's anything like actual moths, like, the nervous system isn't maintained through the process. The caterpillar dies to produce a butterfly. What does that mean for the notion of personhood, of, to speak in spiritual terms, the soul?

>>51315591
It actually really annoys me Legend of the Five Rings don't have Southeast Asians, both tribe and non-tribals. Who doesn't want to trade with not-Indonesians, have bolos thrown at you by not-Tagalog/Ilocano/Visayan/etc., fight a land war in Vietnam, get lost in not-Malaysia, etc.

Shit, Aswang variants are basically vampire hunters' worst nightmares - depending on the tale, they can basically be werewolf-vampires on crack, flying demons, etc. One of the ways to kill 'em is whip them with a fucking whip made from stingray tails.

Oh, another thing that pisses me off - lack of Korean and Mongolian myths. Everything's Japanese and Chinese. I want to fight an intestine-colored sandworm sometime, or chat with an imugi.

>>51316184

>One of the ways to kill 'em is whip them with a fucking whip made from stingray tails.

I feel like there's a Steve Irwin joke in here somewhere

>>51315615
Really? I've spent a fair amount of time there and never had that problem. Where in the US are you from, out of curiosity?

>>51306054
(You)

>>51312800
>xenophobic, conservative, rigid, reserved, hard-working, risk-averse, judgmental, slow to change.
Honestly, I feel like these overlap to the point you could combine them
>Xenophobic
>Conservative
>Hardworking
That covers everything and allows you to add
>Polite
But I'm just nitpicking too

>>51316685

Minneapolis. I think it's something you don't catch on to until you live there for a while, or at least I don't think I would have. It's subtle stuff. In a way I think I might have had an easier time if I was more recognizable as a foreigner, but my dialect had enough in common with theirs that I don't think I got cut the kind of slack a New Yorker or Angeleno would have.

>>51316856
Or a Bostonian for sure. :V

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>>51304004
Someone once asked me to make a token of one of these, it ended up kind of nice.
http://imgur.com/a/37TzD

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They're more or less just Halflings with different stats, but I like using simple Mushroom-folk people to stand-in for my farmer, baker, and rarely combat-oriented race. They like living in their small villages in snowy swamps.

Unlike Halflings, they've got high constitution and dexterity as well as charisma, but lack much strength and intelligence, and especially speed. They are noted for having very nimble fingers, though.

>>51318292
Huh, you realize they are basically giant delicacies for random savages, right?

>>51315774
Great question. Would self aware species think of their former self in a paternal manner? Hard to say.

>>51303341
As far as races go that aren't typically played as PCs, I've always been a fan of Merfolk, Fairies (like, smally, Pixie fairies), and Djinis.

I like Goblins too, but like, not Orcs, small, reptillian, pointy eared/pointy headed little guys. I like Gnomes a lot too, but they're not that uncommon, and get lumped in with halflings or dwarves a lot. I always saw them as being somewhere between the keelber elves and the dwarves from disney's Snow White. You know, like lawn gnomes.

Actually, animate lawn gnomes might be cool.

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How about a race of Spider-people, but not like Driders. Almost like, bipedal spiders.

Like imagine a giant, person sized spider, but with only six legs, and then it's abdomen is sort of humanoid, splitting into two long legs, bent at two points, forward and backward.

I imagine them as living in dark forests and caves, avoiding light, and generally moving very slowly and deliberately, but having a lot of fine craft. Very precise, a lot of finese. Being able to manipulate multiple tools at once, very good multitaskers, and very skilled in crafts.

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>>51305985
I like it.

It actually reminds me of, in a setting I did, there was a community of the undead. Zombies and skeletons, depending on their age, but they would dress themselves up like scarecrows, straw stuffed clothes, pumpkins and gourds over their heads, that sort of thing, in an imitation of lively flesh.

May have mostly stolen it from Over the Garden Wall, but still, I think it could work for a PC race.

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>>51303341
http://boozle.sgoetter.com/extras/the-adventurers-guide/
>Goblins are essentially humans
>Wizards are a race born with mustaches
>Gnomes are Wizards born without mustaches or magical ability
>Silent Protagonists are sufferers of a disorder that also makes them have adventures
It's a pretty fun setting and I like the art.

>>51318896
my question from OTGW is what the fuck was enoch? a huge skele? many small skeles? a ghost? a god? an actual sentient pumpkin/maypole thing? I don't remember if it was explained in episode.

A race of polar folk.

They appear mostly human, though they have pale blue skin, the color of faded denim, golden eyes, and hair that ranges from gray to violet.

Their skin and hides are very different to humans, and they are incredibly well insulated, and have a very low metabolism, with a very low internal body temperature. Everything they do is slow and deliberate. They don't sleep deeply, but enter an almost meditative state, they can be awake, or in this state, for days at a time, if they wish it, useful with the drastically changing length of days in the poles. They can go long periods of time without eating (though must eat a relatively large meal if they do so) and generally eat less than humans on the whole, though their traditional foods are admittedly more highly caloric.

While they're slow, conserving energy, they're a very thoughtful people, spending a great deal of time thinking the great thoughts. There are many philosophers, artists, and engineers amongst their people. While some are very cold in terms of personality, some are very open and warm-hearted, just like humans, though in a more slow and deliberate way.

Though they can survive in warmer climates for moderately extended periods of time, thanks to their low metabolism, excellent insulation, and generally low internal body temperature (with considerably more wiggle-room than most creatures), after enough time has passed, they begin to succumb to 'heat sickness' when their temperatures have finally gotten too high. Maybe they can't even feel temperature, so it really just seems like a strange sickness to them. This can be remedied by eating very cold ice regularly, to keep their body temperatures low, but supply can be an issue. Because of this, they mostly stick to themselves, and don't venture to other cultures much (or the other way around, for obvious reasons).

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>>51319060
It was kind of implied that Enoch was the cat, but even then, I believe him to be some sort of minor god or deity. He's the shepherd of the dead essentially.

>>51319105
So polar adapted Na'vi?

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>>51319149
Ew no.

Culturally very different. Way more industrial. Big grand palaces and monuments. A focus on architecture, industry, invention, complex thought, philosophy, mathematics, poems, poetry, stuff like that.

Very little love for nature, other than perhaps the quiet, bleak serenity of it.

I picture almost Egyptian style architecture, but with dark grey stone. Maybe even incorporating ice into buildings.

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>>51319105
>they're a very thoughtful people, spending a great deal of time thinking the great thoughts.

I don't imagine you do a lot of "thinking the 'great thoughts'", do you?

>>51319217
>Way more industrial
>race is slow polarfolk

are you memeing or

>>51319105
>>51319217
In retrospect, I suppose in a lot of ways they are just sort of a mixture of elf and dwarf tropes in one race, with some added winter stuff. I still think they could be stylistically cool though.

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>>51303801
Underrated post

>>51319306
That's a phrase. It means like philosophy and religion and that sort of thing. "What's the meaning of life" "Where did we come from, where will we go when we die" that sort of thing. Pondering the big questions. That sort of thing. Have you not heard it before?

>>51319316
Nah. A polar landscape means scarce resources, which require industriousness to exploit. This is a species that's naturally very academic, spends a lot of time thinking things through. This leads to developing more efficient ways to extract resources from the environment. More efficient ways to use those resources.

Efficient, if not in time, in energy, which would be the far more crucial resources for these people. Build farms so that it takes less energy to gather food. Build roads so it takes less energy to trade and move around. Build shelters to spend less energy just surviving. Then that evolves, building roads and shelters leads to asking "How big a building could we build? How nice a road could we design?" And sure, building monuments and buildings might be slow work, slower than humans would, but in a very slow-and-steady way.

>>51319306
>uses a meme, unironically calls other people dumb

make like tojo and shoot yourself

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A species of bizarre quasi-lepidopteran women, coming from an alien dimension with magical links to the material world through mists and mirrors - Hollow Vubidina.

Many years ago, the kings and scholars of this realm attempted to bind a great malignancy to their will, but it overcame them and poisoned their bodies, the land, and even time itself.

Vubidina was doomed to a torturous, lethargic end, as its rulers devolved and mutated into sinuous, worm-like beasts. Time flows sporadically there, and the mage tyrants themselves are locked in a kind of temporal flux which even death struggles to penetrate.

Their gibbering bodies pulsate in the dark caverns they now call home, as they psychically command a spawn-species of humanoid female hatchlings to fight like rival ant hives over what remains of their cursed, dream-like realm.

These females are known as Sierans to the people of the material plane, which they sometimes find themselves in when the tides of magic allow sudden perforations in the deteriorating metaphysical boundaries of The Hollow.

Despite their insectoid roles, Sierans look outwardly human, but stand tall and lithe like Elves, and are possessed of a disconnected, alien disposition. They have a paleness and animate nature which disturbs some, and entrances others.

With the psychic link to their magician worm-kings broken, they often lose themselves in the culture and arts of the societies they find themselves in, dazzled by such raw expressions of emotion and life.

Their bodies, magically charged, make them adept sorceresses, and the eldritch nature of their origins more than often results in them taking on increasingly disturbing forms as they grow in age and power.

>>51306583
it's self-replicating

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>>51319378
>It means like philosophy and religion and that sort of thing.

You're adorable.

A race of camel-men who decide their leadership by who has the most and biggest humps.

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>>51303411
What's up with all the fucking focus on hands and fingernails? This guy has an obvious fetish.

>>51319378
I think you're onto something but the philosophy/religion & very industrialist are more or less contradictory because unless the same people are in charge of both, there will be infighting
Unless you want to create not-atlanteans who are superior to everyone, that is

>>51311129
HELL YEAH!

>>51319543

Wasn't there a Black Eyed Peas song about these guys?

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>>51303341

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>>51305985

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>>51319481
I'm stealing your idea and you can't have it back.

>>>/trash/7330888

>>51321517
By all means, improve on it.

>>51320382
Three words

Protestant Work Ethic.

>>51308795
That actually sounds like it could be awesome if no one brought fetish shit in, I'm thinking of them kinda like viking gnolls.

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>>51303341

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>>51311060
Always liked the idea of federation between a human and utterly different alien species.

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>>51321409
No, you're thinking about beemen.

>>51303411
Kinda uninspiring and odd.
"Their blood glows in the dark"
"The women are called handlebars"
"Their skin is ghastly white but turns dark underwater"
"Ghostfuckers"

>>51320382
I mean, yeah there's some infighting. There is in every society.

Look at humans. Some of us are artists, some of us are philosophers, some of us are scientists, some of us are CEOs. Societies are complex.

And they've gone together in the past. Many of the greatest structures built for most of human history were done so in the name of religion. Look at all the scientific progress that was pushed forward by monks.

I should note, when I say industrious, I mean more, industrialized? Like, highly developed technology for the time period, complex structures and devices, in general, things to make work easier. Not industrious in the sense of like, the dwarves, endlessly mining and expanding capital and resources.

Industrializing to make it easier to get the same amount of work done, not to get more profit from the same amount of work.

>>51303411
These seem really boring and pointless.

>>51314795
>Racist Thri-Kreen paladin
>Fucking sick of smiting undead endo-skeletons.

>>51303341
Races should be a little cliche and standard, I think. Their identity should at least have some malleability to it, and trying too hard to be unique can really force a race into a single unwavering role.

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>>51312654
Ye

Current setting races:
>Borovoi
>Vodyanoy
>Rusalka
>Domovoi
>Kikimora
>Moroi

Rate my race m8s.

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>>51323149
My jam

>>51324091
Reads to me like he was spitballing then forgot to junk the worst of the ideas. There's still some decent stuff in there.

>>51315774
A butterfly can actually remember information it learned as a caterpillar after metamorphosis.

The moth people I'm working on have a genetic memory sort of like this, the larva gains the memory of its parent, and the grown imago has the knowledge learned by its ancestors.

Another aspect of mothman society I think would be necessary is gardening and farming, because the larvae just eat and eat and EAT.

Would anyone care for the minor races I made for my setting? (the major ones are, for the most part, your classical fantasy races, but highly factionalised and dissimilar to their stereotypes)

Here's one example.

The tehens are all born in pairs conjoined at the back, one of the twins is always male, and the other one is always female. The dimorphism between the genders is strong enough for them to be mistaken for completely different races. The males are strong and brutish ground creatures with an athletic complexion, they are diurnal and carry their sleeping females counterparts on their backs during the day, which is made possible by their very strong, saurian legs. They concentrate on hunting and gathering food as well as defending the villages, teaching the male children fighting and building - the Tehens live in houses sculpted from wax taken from giant bees who also inhabit their island.

When the night comes, the males go to sleep and the nocturnal females awaken. They are elegant creatures, with the exception of their powerful leather wings, in which they wrap themselves during the day to prevent being burned by the sunlight. During the night, these wings allow them to carry the combined weight of them and their male twins. The females gather medicinal herbs and other useful things, cook the food the males gathered, decorate the houses and teach housekeeping to the female children.

Thus, the males and the females have two completely separate societies that can only directly interact during long twilights in the autumn and the spring, when mating also occurs. They even have different, although related languages and worship different pantheons - the males pray to the gods, while the females pray to the goddesses. The males are rough, ogre-like red brutes with bony crests on their foreheads, while the female are green-skinned, graceful and elegant like dryads.

etc.

>>51324613
Slavic/10. Very good, Slavic myths are tragically underused and often butchered.

>>51315774
>>51325074
Just throw in some religious/spiritual ideals of reincarnation.

>>51324613
shit desu senpai

>>51303411
>small people with horns
>handlebars (women)
What did he mean by this

It's a nice setting though, i really like humanless settings because they always take the fucking spotlight in any setting they exist.

>>51325187
Yeah, that can be a part of it. A caterpillar can be viewed as a "lesser form" before more spiritual life occurs.

>>51305811
>>51305818
Yeah but gnolls really are a seriously underused fantasy race. In 5+ years I've never once encountered a GM that uses them

>>51305985
>A construct race that might conceivably not be played as generic robots?

Sign me the fuck up

>>51315591
>as young Kim-Chi reached for the delicious yams, he heard a chilling shriek from above
>"YOU DON'T TOUCH MY YAMS"
>Sung-Li and Kim-Chi froze. Paralyzed with fear
>out of the corner of her eye Sung-Li saw a terrible silhouette
>a muscular form stooped low over a wide branch, it's hair was a terrifying mane of piss-reeking dreadlocks, its green translucent skin pulsed with veiny rage.
>"GET AWAY FROM MY YAMS YOU NORMIES REEEEEEEEEE"
>faster than lighting it darted into the underbrush
>Sung-Li grabbed her younger brother and dashed blindly into the jungle, a breath away from the horrible gnashing that followed her
>"YOU RUINED THEM! YOU CONTAMINATED MY PRECIOUS YAMS!"
>a terrible long claw reached forth from the darkness and snatched young Kim-Chi from her arms
>She cried out for Kim-Chi but the monster was already gone with him
>she sank into the dirt in despair. The little bright forest spiders huddled around her scabbed and filthy knees for warmth
>a voice rattled in the darkness
>"I'll trade your little pigshit brother for some marshmallows. My sweet potato casserole is almost finished and I'd much prefer to toast some marshmallows to top it than waiting all day for your little potroast to cook though."

>>51325751
I have seafaring gypsy gnolls living on drifting hulks made from derelict ships and ruled by fortune tellers

>>51306155
Ringworld had some good ones.

>>51324613
10/10

My setting's custom races:

Human mutations:
Daomu Zhe (Chinese for Ghoul/Harmful Spirit) are the most common of the human offshoots. From birth they begin developing scar tissue on the top of their skin, which builds up over time. The top of which calcifies into numerous hard plates covering the body. They can't sit still for too long because the plates will begin to grow together, this will happen if a Daomu is bed ridden. They also shed hair, teeth, and nails constantly, and are normally nearly bald except for hair coming out of their oversized ears (one of the few things that don't scar as badly). They have roughly the same physique as humans but are often perceived as shorter due to having a hunched look because of their plating giving them a bulbous back.

Xingxing (Chinese for Ape) are the last one. Take a human, make it stout and pot bellied (essentially giving a human the shape of an orangutan). Give a set of long muscular arms, each with a second set of elbows allowing for better movement (these joints are all double jointed with free movement). Their faces are much more ape like than normal humans, with large lips and flattened nose. Xingxing are often employed as engineers due to the fact their arms can easily reach into holes normal humans could not reach at all.

>>51326487
Mifeng (Chinese for Honey Bee), which are what would occur if you made humans aquatic. large and blubbery like a manatee, grey skinned with many folds. Nearly no nose, and instead prehensile nostrils they can open and close. Large eyes with black irises, making them sun sensitive, and a second set of eyelids to close over them when underwater. No ears, just holes in the side of their head which are also closeable. On their arms are large fleshy flaps that are fairly rigid and used for movement in the water, and their feet are longer and flattened.

Shetou (Chinese for Tongue) are taller and more lithe than humans, base humans describing them as "skeletal". Their originally developed and lived in caves. Their eyes are beady and also light sensitive. They have no lower jaw, instead a single massive tongue that hangs heavily downwards (making them prone to dehydration in hot climates). Their speaking patterns are warped due to an inability to use a lower jaw.

>>51326502
Unstable Human Mutation:
Guaiwu (Chinese for Monster) come in a wide variety of physical forms. They are often born to those exposed directly to the Shattered Lights. While the parents will not change their children are often born in freakish forms. Many can not take care of themselves or simply are still born. One in a dozen lives through infancy and one in a hundred live to adulthood. Those that do drew the lucky lot that their mutations have proven in some way useful.

Other:
Xiyiren (Chinese for Lizard Man) are a number of humanoid creatures that appeared inside the continent from beyond the Shattered Lights. They are physically light and slight, having seven limbs including a prehensile tail with webbing between all seven. They use these to glide and fly on thermals. As a cost for their flight they are physically weak compared to humanity. When contacted by humans they refuse to speak of the home they left and how exactly they came through the Shattered Lights, or if they can return to them safely.

>>51326526
opinions?

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>>51326502
>Mifeng (Chinese for Honey Bee), which are what would occur if you made humans aquatic. large and blubbery like a manatee, grey skinned with many folds. Nearly no nose, and instead prehensile nostrils they can open and close. Large eyes with black irises, making them sun sensitive, and a second set of eyelids to close over them when underwater. No ears, just holes in the side of their head which are also closeable. On their arms are large fleshy flaps that are fairly rigid and used for movement in the water, and their feet are longer and flattened.
Dougal Dixon is that you?

>>51326539
Apparently you can't get an opinion here unless you present some sort of tired as shit furries.

I think yours are alright, but they really sound more like monsters than playable races. They don't seem to have cultures at all. Also number one are disgusting.

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>>51305985
>>51309029
>>51309098
>>51312654
>>51319105
>tfw my setting has all of these.

I think I'm gonna make it guys.

>>51319524
Pretty sure it isn't
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N,N-Dimethyltryptamine#.22Machine_Elves.22

>>51326539
They don't have entirely strong concepts to get behind. They're all details.

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how about humanoid cacti?

>>51328465
Every Japanese game has these

>>51329703
y tho

>>51303341
Why not have an ape/monkey species? I never see this trope ever used.

>>51303341
Flying rocks.
Not constructs, just, intelligent rocks able to move around using their minds.
They eat cosmic dust, innanimate rocks and rival clans.
If they age enough they grow to be as large as mountains.
Other races may try to grow in them as parasites.

Earth itself is the largest, uncaring and old enough none of its children understand it anymore. We just live in the outer skin layer.

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>>51303341
Tortoise-folk

Desert Tortoise-folk in particular.

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>>51330630

>>51330981
Seems cool, where's that from?

>>51330356
They already do that in real life though.

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>>51326487
>>51326502
>>51326526
>>51326539

>>51330356

Isn't that just us?

Although, one thing you could do that might be cool would be to use other hominids, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Floriensis et al

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>>51324579

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FIMIR, BITCH

>swamp-dwelling
>amphibian cyclops
>tail mace or tail spike
>half-daemonic
>live in crumbling dungeons hidden in seas of fog
>grim as fuck
>subspecies organized in castes
>all male except for the hag-queens
>the hag-queens are sterile
>the race perpetuates itself by kidnapping and raping human females
>pillage and plunder all the time because their own lands are barren
>eat people
>worship forgotten gods and daemon princes

>>51328443
I can give you details on the setting. I have a write up for it.

It's odd though.

Several hundred years after an occult fueled apocalypse North America has finally become livable once more. Settlers from mainland china live in city states along the west coast, now having declared independence from imperial rule, and struggle in constant conflict with the barbaric tribes to the south and their rattling smoke belching motored vehicles. Dotting the landscape is pieces more valuable than gold. Rubber, chemicals, perhaps even preserved documents on how to make them lie buried beneath the landscape. The California coast has become hostile, and in recent time the city states unstable after breaking away from control of the Imperial Dynasty. With beasts twisted by strange energies, black oil barbarians, and greedy abhumans abounding how can one make their fortune in this new land?

In summary, chinafornia.

http://pastebin.com/QTqWE9H8

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>>51303341
Haven't seen too many amphibious-deep-sea-fish races around.

>>51325087
More.

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>non-cliche races
>people start posting beast-folk

Anons...

>>51334823
Who are the worst offenders?

Who would you say had unique races?

>>51326539
I like them, I'd be interested to see the world they lived in. Cultures, how they interact with each other, etc.

Where did the honey bee name come from for the manatee people?

>>51334916
It was actually a culture racism thing from back when they lived in imperial china. Their skin is thick and makes them extremely proficient bee keepers as their outer blubber and skin isn't irritated by bee venom also they can hardly feel the stings themselves. Mifeng often did bee keeping in minimal protection.

For culture look >>51334119

Black oil barbarian descended by the ancestors of american citizens in Hawaii, Chinese who broke away from imperial rule, loosely connected city states, lizard people from beyond the Shattered Lights, American occult apocalypse, being stuck in the playgrounds of gods, and more!

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>>51334829
>slime
>Drumvali
>Polar folk
are the best, though the polar folk are a bit just like slightly altered humans, so eh. Scarecrow people could be neat.
>turtle people
>slug people
>rat people
And most other beast folk are overdone. Not necessarily bad, anything can be good if written well, but just not original

>>51334961
>though the polar folk are a bit just like slightly altered humans
Really, aren't elves, dwarves, and halflings as well?

Not that I disagree, the point still stands. The others are definitely much more creative and out there.

>>51334961
>are the best, though the polar folk are a bit just like slightly altered humans, so eh. Scarecrow people could be neat.

Slavic races >>51324613


and chinese mutants>>51326487
>>51326502
>>51326526

are the best desu

>>51335010
I wanted to include the mutants but I just made it the top 3 and maybe I missed something but just the slavic ones are just names right?

>>51335061
Slavic folklore is cool.

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>>51303341
A race where everybody is Naruto

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>>51334460
It's a shame there's not enough deep-sea style beastmen.

Avians that are democratic crusaders.

So what if they're eagles?

>>51321467
>>51321472
Myrm! We missed you buddy!

>>51306054
>NOW IM GOING TO BITCH ABOUT HOW STUPID AND POINTLESS HALFINGS AND GNOMES ARE BUT CHECK OUT MY TOTALLY SICK MOUSEKIN THEYRE SHORT LITTLE RODENT PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN HOLES AND STEAL THINGS
To be fair, I think the complaint is usually that having dwarves, gnomes, and halflings all in the same setting is redundant. If you only have mousefolk as your one "little people" race, then that would be fine.

>>51303341
The Derro.
http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/derro.html

>>51324613
>Borovoi
>Not leshy
>No slavic werewolves volkolaks
>No slavic centaurs polkans
>No piglike undersea imps
>No sentient dragon-snakes
>No prophetic birds with human heads

Good list overall m8, love me some slavic folklore.

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I was thinking on something along the lines of.

Living Rocks with immense psychic powers. They can use said power to move around. But usually they prefer to dominate lesser beings from local area to do their bidding. These creatures are used as slaves to build and expand Living Rocks civilization. The longer the rock lives the bigger and more powerful it gets. But Rock needs thousands of years to achieve such potential. Rocks feed through absorption of earth minerals, different mineral diets may result in varied psychic powers. Rocks believe that the earth itself is their leader and their deity. They want to enslave all lesser races and take control of the earth, because they see other races as unworthy of living freely on their deity.

>>51338780
See >>51330630


And I like the idea

>>51339736
Red lyrium?
>It Mutates anyone it can cling on to.
>Can grow absurdly fast
>Magic blocking Think psi but really magic lite.
>Hive mind.
>Anyone who goes near it (20 Feet) Goes mad.
What do you think?

>>51303411
>starts off with murderhobo kender

stopped reading right there

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>>51335837
ohgodno

>>51343508
Believe it!

>>51330282
They're cute

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>>51311129

>>51318896
pump-kin

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>>51310568
Corvids

>tell players I'm making a new sci-fi setting
>need ideas for species, tell them they can pick any type of thing they want, and I'll build a balanced species/race around it
>one wants a human, the other wants a shapeshifter
I mean, it's their choice, but still. They could have been anything they wanted and it just feels so boring

>>51347064
Most people are pretty unimaginative when it comes to new races - to be fair, we don't really see or hear about all the freaky prehistoric shit or deep-sea fuckery that goes on, nor do most people imagine aliens would be different from how we imagine them.

We can't blame them, especially not after Star Trek/Star Wars obviously wouldn't have the budget for non-humanoid aliens, so they slapped makeup on humans and called it a day.

Give them a chance, encourage them to look at non-Western cultures.

Make up for it by introducing a variety of races ranging from grounded/Earth-ish to downright bizarre.

>>51347141
Star wars was actually pretty good at having visually alien aliens, it's just that everyone acted like humans. I'm okay with that though, considering it's Space Fantasy.

>>51306013
Is that a tiefling or a draenei?

>>51350178
It's a Qunari, pretty much the only original thought that the creators of Dragon Age had. They're ultracommunist ox people.

It's an unpopular opinion around these parts, but I actually enjoy the games. They aren't particularly original, but it's high fantasy done reasonably well which is surprisingly rare in video games, all things considered. Certainly better than the Elder Scrolls, to say nothing of Warcraft.

>>51350522
>RIDE THE BULL!
>Dorian moustache-twirling.
>kossith.

>>51350640
I'll take "Things I like about the game and will assume you do as well because maymay arrows are vague" for $600, Alex

>>51303341
In the game I'm playing the DM had a problem with the fact you've got the underdark versions of gnomes, dwarves and elves but not humans.

He uses Tiefling stats but they're a bunch of half goat men who basically worship satan. It's kinda cool.

>>51326078
Thank you for the idea anon.

>>51350522
It had a lot of good ideas and some terrible ones, I actually found the dwarves to be done well even though they aren't unique at all. Inquisitions gameplay left me a little bit upset but it wasn't a bad game.

>>51337175
Literally my last Stellaris playthrough

>>51346170
fuck

>>51351015
I appreciated how the dwarves didn't have vaguely Scottish accents, they all sounded American. It felt fitting.

>>51352970
The legion of the dead was something I loved, a bunch of fanatic dwarves who consider themselves to already be dead make great characters to use in my games. The whole setting had some interesting ideas especially with the way magic works but the games could never really do it justice.

>>51350915
>underdark version of humans
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMorlocks

>>51312800
The difference being, in your example none of those stereotypical qualities contradict one another. In the example of the Gileans, it's mentioned that they're both introverted *and* considerate, cautious *and* moody, considerate/sensitive *and* insensitive, all at the same time.

It doesn't make sense. Generally speaking, stereotypes are treated as though a group all conforms to a single character. And like any individual character, stereotypes are expected to be consistent - to present a coherent, understandable psychology. Jews are stereotyped as being primarily greedy - all other aspects of their stereotype stems from that foundation. Black people are stereotyped as violent, unreasoning savages - the rest of their stereotype is just an extension of that.

I need races that would fit in a world based off Darksun and Pirates of Darkwater. I got a frogfolk people called Anorans, and I'm toying with the idea of Monkey-Birds, but I feel I need more.

Any cool suggestions?

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>>51334961
>polar folk
Penguin People

>>51354969
I took it to mean that they're sensitive/considerate in some ways, but insensitive to other norms - so they'll commit a social faux pas when interacting with others, but once corrected, they'll apologize profusely and keep it in mind. Cautious and moody don't exactly cancel each other out - they could be cautious due to their moods, or overly moody due to their more paranoid natures.

>>51338082
Holy fuck, someone made Francis E. Dec, the Air Loom, Timecube, and Normality have sex with JAGS Wonderland.

Question is, would they physically be shapeshifting reptiles or the various creatures schizophrenics describe?

>>51332400

Fuck, now I know what's going to be in the next dungeon my players find!