Unique demihuman stereotypes?

I kinda like tinker gnomes, but they're too play out in dumb ways. Whenever I need someone to fill a slightly anachronistic position, I tend to toss a gnome in there since it seems fitting for a tinker with no gadgets.

For example, an overworked Adventure Society clerk ("I'm up to my nose in paperwork back here. I don't need more forms to fill out when you screw up,") and a stage-hardened stand-up comedian ("You gou talent, kid, but this business will chew you up and spit you out in the gutter.")

As a result, my gnomes tend to be frazzled and jaded workaholics more than anything.

>>52692192
tieflings are born to be gladiators, whores, or evil wizards

>>52692192

Dwarves are posh, British hypercapitalists.

I view most halflings being humble Shire types, but the ones caught up in wanderlust or living in cities, the ones your party actually meets, are all thieving rat-bastard scumbags.
Then again, if I need a nobleman to kick a puppy, I'll often have him harrassing halflings for being thieving rat-bastard scumbags by nature.

>>52692840
Ah, I run this too. Posh trade barons on top, salt-of-the-Earth proles on the bottom.

>>52692192
Dwarfs, though great with heights, are terribly agoraphobic. They cannot stand the feel of open sky and are prone to their own form of vertigo.

>>52692192
>elves are fags
Only to closetfags (ie Dwarf fanbois)

File: 1463455573558.jpg (38KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

38KB, 500x500px

Naga are all lazy layabouts who do nothing but sunbathe all day.

>>52693535
Speaking of elves, I really hate trance, so I figure they do sleep, but the trance thing is a stereotype that they propogate themselves. "Oh yeah, I totally don't actually sleep, it's like, deep meditation and stuff."

>>52693628
Actually, I like to play into it. I like the idea that a lot of elves who spend time around humans or halflings are jealous of the ability to dream. They think about it a lot, never knowing what it's really like.

>>52693689

>elf mother raising half-elf child
>every morning child tells mother about his dreams
>something something mother is driven mad by her jealousy and becomes BBEG

>>52693866
Not depressing enough. The mother ends up killing herself because she'll never dream, then the BBEG is the kid who goes on a crusade to either end sleep or end dreams somehow.

>>52694018

wait, no

>elven village hidden deep in a secluded forest
>completely insular, villagers have never been farther than they need to for hunting and gathering materials, never been outside the forest
>group of adventurers passes through
>entire village curious and excited to see foreigners for the first time in hundreds of years
>local elven girl enamored with human fighter
>one thing leads to another
>adventuring group leaves the next day
>weeks later (or however long is appropriate for an elven gestation period) she notices she is pregnant
>child comes; is noticeably different than the other children
>grows up at an accelerated rate compared to all the other local children; no one knows what the fuck is going on
>mother believes her child is destined to be special; loves the child unconditionally
>sometimes in the morning the child tells the mother about seeing strange visions in the night
>mother has no idea what to make of this
>asks the village elder
>village elder manages to tie it to fiend possession/evil god warship/some other supersticious wackery
>child is declared cursed
>elder tells the mother to bring her child to him
>mother frantically gathers a few belongings and rations into a sack, flees town with the child
>villagers with torches and pitchforks come after them
>mother kisses her child goodbye and sends him off into the forest as she stays behind to hold the villagers back as long as she can

>>52693628
>>52693689
>playing half-elf ranger
>can't trust the rogue
>paladin is charisma machine
>wizard is perceptive as a rock
>happy to cover watch duty for them once I get Keep Watch
>dedicate a spell-slot to it from then on

Fast-forward to next year

>paladin is having plot-induced nightmares
>ranger wakes him, conversation is had, turns to general roleplay
>"Wait, why are you still awake? I thought it was Wizard's watch."
>"Oh, no, I feel fine. Old hunters' tricks and some magic, I guess. I've been covering for him. And Rogue."
GM: "No, really Anon, when was the last time your ranger slept?"
Me: "uh... I guess it would be.. back at [Town]?"
GM: "That's was five months ago. In game."
>Ranger-kun is now very, very tired
>Paladin can't sleep with nightmares, covers the rest of watch.
Jokes are had that ranger will still hear anything before the paladin
GM: "...roll me perception as you lay down."
>roll high
>add bonuses
>we're in a forest, so carry the one...
"42? 43? Somewhere mid-forties."
>"Yeah, no, you're kept awake by the sounds of grass growing."

And that's the story about how Ranger-kun didn't sleep for over a year.

>>52694197
>Child picked up on the road by a kindly old human in robes.
Ah, don't worry, you're dreams make you as unique as any other dreamer. You say you dream of adventures?
>Child enrolled in adventuring academy, graduates at the top of his class.
>Applies for a position in a group of murderhobos.
Yeah, I'm an orphan, whatevs.

>>52693689
Yeah, I think I'm just generally into nerfing the lore all around like trimming the lifespans. I suppose I could do true elves of legend who trance and live 800 years and common elves who may not mind the myths.

>>52692192
Elves as fucking UNSTOPPABLE MONSTERS.

They're smarter, live WAAAAY longer, are stronger, more magically adept, better craftsmen......what if they decided humans are cattle AT BEST? Mary Sue Elves portrayed as being just better at everything should be fucking scary to everything that isn't them if they're not goody-twoshoes. I'm working on a homebrew at the moment where such elves are basically only kept from wiping out or enslaving most of the world by several brutal crusades and the combined hatred of basically all other nations, races, and cultures. I'm trying to avoid it being edgelord material, but I still feel like going one-on-one with an elf should be a bad time.

File: No_Place_Like_Gnome.png (363KB, 597x401px) Image search: [Google]

363KB, 597x401px

>>52692290
>my gnomes tend to be frazzled and jaded workaholics more than anything
Interesting. I usually make my gnomes fairly happy bureaucrats.

File: ORPGS.png (327KB, 500x750px) Image search: [Google]

327KB, 500x750px

>>52692192
I like to make orcs as a race be very into storytelling. It always made sense to me that the less civilized folks in a setting would maintain a somewhat strong oral tradition.

>>52695117
Huh, it does seem like they'd make good bookkeepers if you don't go the sillypants route with them. I wonder why.

>>52692192
Gnolls are among the most talented blacksmiths among the Monstrous Humanoids(indeed they rival the Dwarves and Elves at this)

based on an idea someone else here had after noting that witches in Africa are often thought to be able to shapeshift into Hyenas and work as blacksmiths in their civilian guise

Dwarfs actually find tedious, meticulous work pleasurable while multitasking, innovating and leisure time make them extremely uncomfortable. Dwarfs look forward to the work day and loathe the boring times when they have to eat or sleep.

Humans are seen as huge sluts since all the other races except elves have sex in the missionary position for the sole purpose of reproduction

All humans are whores. It works wonders given all the mongrels running around on the average fantasy setting.

>>52695286
Because they're happy and full of energy, lots of drive but also innocence.

They're interns

File: Vernalagnia Allusif.jpg (140KB, 800x1132px) Image search: [Google]

140KB, 800x1132px

>>52692192
Hobgoblins are filthy barbarians who collect skulls and dabble in necromancy. That is based on how they reject the trappings of civilization itself due to being enslaved by an extinct one, and believing the soul lies in the head. Their berserkers trepanate themselves, they are fearless because their soul already has a way out if they die.

Dark elves are seen as lusty and even thought to somehow take the life out of people. That is because they were descended from rogue fey which wanted to experience life and death instead of the eternal stillness of the fairy lands. They were leanan sídhe-like fey which inspired humans in exchange for the vital force to acquire souls and bodies. They seek to experience feelings and thrilling sensations. That influences them to be explorers and sailors, but lust is what people remember the most (in- and off-game).

I'm not sure any of these may be "interesting", but they are what I have.

File: 1474244474681.jpg (40KB, 507x401px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 507x401px

>>52696058

File: 1432761146447.jpg (236KB, 800x600px) Image search: [Google]

236KB, 800x600px

Harpies get the Jew treatment from their interest in shiny things. Everyone just assumes they're good with money to the point that they've started to live up the stereotype as a means of social mobility.

>>52693572

Speaking of lazy, I love 5e's take on bugbears. I've been playing a borderline narcoleptic bugbear fighter. His signature move is falling asleep somewhere conspicuous, and when an enemy approaches him, he'll wake up and full attack -> action surge -> full attack with a fistful of superiority dice, then groggily roll over and go back to sleep.

The party calls him Dozer.

>>52696200
That's an amazing name

>>52693077
This

I go off Dwarf Fortress for my stereotypes, so here's one: Goblins are the bravest bastards alive. They live in horrible evil wastelands where poisonous clouds sweep the land on a daily basis and the dead don't stay down - but they still manage to survive and even thrive.

Also, dwarves get viewed as drunks because alcohol is necessary for stable brain chemistry. The gods are bastards.

File: latest[1].jpg (120KB, 256x400px) Image search: [Google]

120KB, 256x400px

>>52692192

Sure. Here are mine:

>Humans (Yes, I consider humans a fantasy race.)
-Crazy about Corn. They're the only ones who know how to grow it and boy howdy do they love it.
-They're the only race with round ears. Elves especially love to squeeze, "fat, plump, chubby little human ears".
-RIDICULOUSLY Xenophobic towards all other non-humans... Except Centaurs. Centaurs and Humans often ally, marry, rape & pillage together- true friends.

>Orcs
-Credited as being the first race to domesticate the pig. They have since mastered pork as a culinary art.
-Orcish made equipment is shabby, ugly, and cheap, but it works damn it.
-Honest to god; if actually left all by themselves, they devolve to mud farmers and swineherds.

>Changelings
-Make for EXCELLENT Doctors, Sex Workers, and Performance artists and celebrated in all fields, so long as they're not getting into trouble.
-Shape shifting comes naturally, but acting does not: most changelings don't understand the social etiquette of beings incapable of shape shifting at will and are almost comically unconvincing.

>Dwarves
-Can eat obtain nourishment from eating soil. Dirt eating is very shameful though.
-Have a kind of sibling rivalry with Gnomes.
-Genuinely very skilled Carpenters and Woodworkers.

>Minotaurs
-Extremely devoutly religious; whether it's an evil or good god, religion is most important to them.
-Most Minotaurs people encounter are criminals, heretics, or undesirables exiled from civilized eastern minotaurian society.

>Elves
-Unapologetic Weaboos and Tourists; always coming down from the moon to take pictures, climb on statues, ruin local economies.
-Usually responsible for most anachronistic phenomena due to not picking up their garbage or giving the "poor, innocent, locals".. "hand outs".

>Cyclopes
-Extremely socially awkward and bashful due to small numbers.
-Possess OTHERWORLDLY almost AUTISTIC artisan skills in most trades/crafts/arts due to isolation.
-Absolutely Gorgeous.

>>52696150
Is funny, because owls are a metaphor for jews.
because they're dirty creatures

>>52692192
Elves have painful cancer and turn into trees upon death. Dwarves are Jews with sludgebeer like in ancient Sumeria.

>>52698923
By changeling you mean shapeshifters, or actual changelings as in humans who were changed at birth by the fae?

File: whiteflower_big2[1].jpg (103KB, 474x1000px) Image search: [Google]

103KB, 474x1000px

>>52699043
>By changeling you mean shapeshifters, or actual changelings as in humans who were changed at birth by the fae?

Shapeshifter Changelings.

I ended up using "Doppelganger" as their N-word in case you're wondering why I'm not using that as opposed to the more ambiguous troll baby changeling title.

My dwarves are hyper industrious workers kind of like post ww2 japanese. They brew super strong ephedra teas and drink them and get tweaked as shit and work in the mines or forges for 40 hours straight until they collapse and do it again the next day. The whole mountain hold is on a 44 hour work cycle with 6 hours of rest between. Anyone unfit to work is cast out of the society
I guess this is similar to traditional dwarves but a more hardcore expression of production=good

I like the one where more spiritual or aesthetic races get physical symptoms of abstract concepts or other things not directly connected to them.

Think of Illithid university professors who get violently ill when they encounter bad math or city planning department who judge the amount of parks needed on whether dryads start to wither or not

>>52692192
Dwarves split into two groups. Plains / hill dwarfs as Mongol-esque steppe nomads with incredibly durable ponies. While mountain dwarves are more Spring and Autumn Chinese in social structure and culture.

>>52699485
What exactly do they produce?
You'd imagine them to be an extremely wealthy civ unless all that labor just goes into digging tunnels.

>>52699598
Maybe they have communal treasure?

Traders would obviously be the bottom caste.

>>52699583
I have this. There are fortress dwarves and hillock dwarves. Fortress dwarves mine, work metal, and do other complex jobs. Hillock dwarves farm, hunt, and most importantly, raise dwarven horses. These bastards look like the devil fucked a Clydesdale, eat non-dwarves unless specially trained, and are nearly unstoppable. This is in a setting where horses are basically ponies.

File: 1488195297273.jpg (56KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

56KB, 500x500px

>>52698923
Those are all really cool.

>Chubby little human ears

>>52692840
>>52692935

So they're dwarves in name only?

>>52693628
On the 5th ed. Trance is a ribbon. It does nothing and removing it don't break anything. So, we removed it.

>>52695047
I've been thinking about running a game called Fae, where all the players are elves, and elves are fucking superheroes compared to the other races. Like, you know how adventurers in D&D can be many times tougher and better than normal people, with little explanation other than that they're heroes? Well, in this game, the reason they're badasses is merely because they're fae, and they'd be feared because of it.

>>52692192
>Goliath are highly superstitious
They believe the markings on their skin tell their fate, so strongly that they organize into castes based on it. Consequentially, it's incredibly easy to get some of them to take any mystical nonsense dead seriously, to the point many outright refuse to cross or even look a halfling in the eye, due to another stereotype attached to them:

>halflings bring bad luck
This is due to ancient shit when the big bad evil empire of the time steamrolled over the halflings' homeland. The halflings themselves fled and became nomads, and made a big show of declaring undying enmity against their conquerors. A series of magical disasters and poor political moves lead to the empires rapid collapse years later. People still say the halflings did it. They were actually responsible for one of the disasters, but nobody remembers which or how they did it

File: urist.jpg (6KB, 192x207px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 192x207px

>>52692290
>>52695117
>>52695286
>>52696084
Gnomes have always felt kind of redundant to dwarves to me. Maybe it's because I play too much Dwarf Fortress, but dwarves as a nimble, social, sometimes-hyperactive race of industrious craftsmen and artisans feels natural to me in any sufficiently flexible dwarven archetype.

>>52700484
This. Anything a gnome can do, a dwarf can do better.

>>52699691
there are different types of elves, different types of halflings, centaurs, minotaurs, fauns.

Why are dwarves not allowed to be worked on

Usually stuff that's not typically adressed but still makes sense. Most dwarves have poor hearing, elves have sensitive skin and won't be able to venture into a desert or marshland for extended periods of time, any insectoid creature literally doesn't give a shit about the sanctity of life, etc.

>>52700766
>>52700484
I agree entirely, despise gnomes and have threatened my friends with a bone-powdering frown if any show up on my empire's borders.
However, I am able to accept the idea that dwarves are the superior craftsmen and artisans, but gnomes are the inventors and experimenters.

>>52700849
Hard to hear through all that hair. Also, mining is loud.

>>52700870
Exactly. Most dwarves suffer hearing loss and tinnitus to some extent, highborns are exempt from this.

>>52692192
Awaken, my masters

>>52700834

Consider the karadrons in age of Sigmar. Sky pirate corporations who disregard ancestors and mine the sky instead of ground. If it deviates so much from the society-accepted definition of a dwarf, why call them dwarves?

Elves are similar. Most elf variants are color swaps. If I made Elves that lived short lives, hated nature, and tinkered with technology, for instance, it's not an elf anymore.

>>52701034
>not elves anymore
Tell that to Santa's Elves.

File: DwemerElves.jpg (126KB, 780x1024px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 780x1024px

>>52701034
That isn't true

File: MagicAsFuckGnome.jpg (112KB, 488x736px) Image search: [Google]

112KB, 488x736px

>>52700484
>Not using fey gnomes instead
It's like you're trying to set them up for redundancy

File: mongol_centaur_by_chrismcfann-d3kre16.jpg (128KB, 746x1072px) Image search: [Google]

128KB, 746x1072px

>>52692192
Centaurs are a nomadic people from !asia that frequently attack and destroy human settlements. Their culture revolves around war, pillage, and herding, and they have strong oral tradition. Once in a while a very powerful centaur rises and the world shivers. They fill the ork role but without being a meme race.

Casual centaurs are the worst, by the way.

>>52701485
I should clarify that I'm mainly talking about gnomes as a major race. As an entry in the monster manual, possibly as one of the classical elementals (gnomes, sylphs, undines, and salamanders) that's prefectly fine, but as soon as they become a major geopolitical presence in the setting the start stepping on the dwarves' turf.

>>52701583
The fuck is a meme race

>>52701649
>magically unstable illusionists with an affinity for forests and earthen biomes
>stepping on the dwarves' turf
You got some interesting dwarves then.

>>52701485
Seconding. I'm running a 5e game, and just declared that gnomes are basically changelings. God fuckery, faerie fuckery, fate fuckery, nobody can tell. One day you just notice your kid has pointy ears and doesn't grow anymore. They're benign, but sometimes rough upbringing turns them into arseholes. Also, sterile.

>>52692192
Rather than Gnomes being illusionists or tinkers or anything, my Gnomes are all shady businessmen and merchants.

In their history, they were almost wiped out by a nation of dwarves in a large conflict. After this particular nation of dwarves and it's allies were wiped out by a coalition of other nations, the gnomes were given a new homeland to settle that roughly coincided with their "ancestral" homeland according to ancient gnomish myth.

After they were settled, they began violently annexing land around their new nation and driving the native orcs and kobolds out and attacking them outright all to "protect their gnomish identity and nation"

It helps that they're backed by the largest empire in the setting. As a result, gnomes can be found all throughout the empire, mainly working as merchants and bankers.

Gnome samurai as per hagakure, complete with homosexuality and dying for their master at the drop of the hat.

>>52701834
One race as a single personality/social class is a really dull way to worldbuild

>>52698923
>-Honest to god; if actually left all by themselves, they devolve to mud farmers and swineherds.
TFW the fucking humies and nig-nelves won't leave you alone to your pig farm.

>>52701935
Yeah but those are cultural stereotypes and it would be lazy to port them to different species as is.

There can be a stereotype about Dwarves being gold grubbing xenophobic misers but it would be cooler if they had actual reason for it. Like their reproduction being tied to having room and treasure. At least that would explain why dwarves always seem to stagnate but still have huge drive to conquer new (old) keeps and have the manpower to at least try to do so despite being a dying race.

>>52701834
>>52701935
What resources did the gnomes have to make them so prone to trade? Were there no farmer/warrior gnomes? How are a near genocided population of midget traders able to violently annex orc nations? Why would the dwarves allow this of their former enemies? Are you just going straight for the Israel analogy with no logic behind it?

It's just no fun if the culture doesn't actually make sense.

>>52692192
How unique are those? It's worth mentioning that I didn't strive to make them super unique, it's just what I'm comfortable with.

Humans: idealistic, naive, superficial
Elves: jaded, cynical, deadpan
Dwarves: egoistic, cold-blooded, pragmatic
Halflings: petty, clannish, narrow-minded
Goblins: pompous, narcissistic, duplicitous
Gnomes: competitive, passive-aggressive, overachievers
Orcs: fickle, restless, enthusiastic
Panotti: smug, self-confident, introverted
Blemmyes: individualistic, ambitious, determined
Arimaspi: vindictive, single-minded, merciless

>>52702353
Any reasons why they're like that?

>>52696058
In my setting that's because half-humans are the only crossbreeds capable of producing their own children, all other crossbreeds can't reproduce.

>>52701834
>" After this particular nation of dwarves and it's allies were wiped out by a coalition of other nations, the gnomes were given a new homeland to settle that roughly coincided with their "ancestral" homeland according to ancient gnomish myth."

Did you just make Gnome Israel?

>>52702624
Humans are a very young and successful race who are still very drunk with their unexpected success and believe that they can make this world a better place, though they can't agree how exactly.
The ancient Elven empire is in shambles in spite of all their attempts to preserve it, and they simply can't find any inner resolve to care about anything any more.
Dwarves started out as oppressed slaves and their history is one of constant guerilla warfare against vastly superior forces. They learnt that nobody will help them if they don't help themselves.
Halflings are a race created with a very narrow and specific purpose. Their territory is protected by incredibly powerful magical wards, shielding them from any danger or foreign influences.
Goblins are a huge bundle of insecurities, stemming largely from their disgraceful origin as a race. They surround themselves with delusions of grandeur to suppress these insecurities.
Gnomes lived through an apocalypse that left their hi-tech empire a wasteland. They have to work super hard to restore their former glory, and they're very motivated.
Orcs wound up in this world fairly recently, and everything is still relatively new to them. Their ancestors were explorers and invaders, and their passionate spirit still lives on in their descendants.
Panotti are a highly magical race who guard the source of all magic in the world. This, coupled with their extensive knowledge about the world, gave them a bit of a messianic complex.
The current Blemmmian culture was created by an immortal god-dictator who was after world domination and needed a perfect elite army to do his bidding. He deliberately destroyed their older culture to make them his perfect warriors.
Arimaspi are the original owners of the world who were eventually driven to a tiny, horrible continent by the younger races. Their culture is full of hate, which is actually somewhat justified.

>>52703385
bretty kewl

File: 44b22b189d2efa4f3f61d0e02ed452ef.jpg (135KB, 400x527px) Image search: [Google]

135KB, 400x527px

I like the crazy gnome but I do away with any inherent goodness. Also mine look real weird with large heads and smaller disproportionate bodies.

>>52701696
humans

>>52699598
Massive public works for the king, all sorts of weapons and armor and jewelry, scrolls and magic and all sorts of stuff. They dont trade much: theyre like the Chinese pre-opium wars. No need or desire to trade with the lower races.

In one of my games the players had to travel to Cinderholme, the dwarven civilization allegedly built into the Smoking Mountain volcano. When they finally got into Cinderholme after all sorts of adventures, they realized it isnt built into a volcano at all. Cinderholme is built into the caldera at the top of the mountain, and the smoke is from the thousands of forges and blacksmiths constantly working in labor cycles.
It blew my players minds, since from the start of the game id always mention "and smoke is rising from the white peak of the Smoking Mountain" or "the Mountain is quiet this evening". The humans at the base of the mountain even take omens from the smoke from the "volcano" and put great mystical significance into when the Mountain is "active".
But it was just busy busy dorfs all along clocking into work

Post-Genocide Elvish Societies are horrifying.

Elves physically mature at the same rate as human, hitting an analogy to adulthood at 20-ish, but are culturally, socially, and psychologically not considered adults until around 100.

When someone occupies an elven forest and starts butchering the elves hard enough a larger and larger segment of the population ends up in this 'technically not an adult' phase. You eventually get a society dominated by these elves, still fully capable of having children but never reaching the age of adulthood according to other elvish societies.

Their psychologies...don't take it well. Especially if it gets bad enough that they don't realize that they have an extended lifespan. Even once the genocide stops they're dangerous to everyone around them for a few hundred years due to cultural trauma. A particularly bad instance of this created the Drow.

My take on humans is that they love most strongly above all other races. Rather than be gifted unique inherent magical traits like the others, they were created with purposefully shortened lifespans and an incredibly romantic nature. And secretly they have a single magical trait: genitals that let them reproduce with all sorts of stuff, which accounts for all the half-races. They're like the 100% cheese build of the races, designed to be the most successful species in the most obnoxious way.

>>52695286
Maybe it is because they are often portrayed as being extremely meticulous and invested in their work.

>>52700857
That is how I have gnomes spend their downtime.

File: Antarctic Fatality.jpg (621KB, 2271x1179px) Image search: [Google]

621KB, 2271x1179px

Dwarves are all hunters. They hunt down huge animals, butcher them in the field and return to their cave-cities with their butchery.

Sometimes they hunt giants.

File: Approve.gif (1MB, 256x192px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 256x192px

>>52698923
Are you the guy who made an entire setting where humans are seen as exotic by the other races and the only thing they can all agree about in regards to humanity is that they make corn?

If so I am glad to see you are still around. Does your setting have gnomes or a race of your own design?

>>52692192
>Halflings, in addition to lacking ambition, are absolutely terrible at naming things
>this is why all their towns have names like "Greenhill," "Underhill," Wheatfield," or the ever-so-exotic [name-that-translates-directly-to-"rice-paddy"]
>also why all their surnames are just their jobs or something about their hair, feet, or bellies

>>52704668
>lacking ambition
Tell me right now in front of everyone that you wouldn't love to live in a warm comfy hole and fish every day and eat cheese. They do have ambition—they just have the wisdom to work for a simple, happy life.

File: technically I have to accept that.gif (352KB, 550x192px) Image search: [Google]

352KB, 550x192px

>>52704818
>filename

>>52700484
I recall that in the novel Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike made Gnome a kinda racial supertype with halflings, traditional gnomes, etc. as subtypes with their main defining feature being that they are about half the size of humans and shorter than dwarves.

I only use a few adjustments to the "standard" race definitions in my games:
Elves: speak very seldom and thus come off as aloof or haughty, but really they just socialize on a greater timescale. It takes a few centuries to get to know an elf, but in comfort among true friends they get borderline hedonistic.
Dwarves: men are asexual and it's Guys' Night Out all the time every day. Women, being the minority, have the pick of the litter and men dress fashionably to attract them.
Gnomes: Literally pointy-hat beardos. Their size is Tiny instead of Small.
Goblins: Give -1 shits and will shank you. They'll shank themselves if they happen to wonder one day what it feels like. Basically they have no concept of foresight or self-preservation and give birth to literal litters. I field them pretty much as chaotic animals that can speak, tool use optional. Also they burrow.
Orcs: I make big muscular orcs a subrace, along with old-school pig men and gangly, smaller ones that are sometimes mistaken for big goblins.

>>52701649
>all player races are major geopolitical presences in the setting
Why would you assume that?

>>52705433
>Dwarves: men are asexual and it's Guys' Night Out all the time every day. Women, being the minority, have the pick of the litter and men dress fashionably to attract them.

Doesn't this kind of contradict? If men are Asexual, wouldn't the women have to go through more effort to get a man to sex her? And since men would have no desire for sex, why do they work so hard to attract women? Aside from the obvious population stuff.

>>52695156
I like this. Stealing it!
>To convince the orc leader to let them go, the party have to spin a sufficiently good story to entertain the tribe for the evening

Humanity is mostly confined to one small continent, which is seen by the rest of the world the way that ancient China saw Britain: exotic, backwards and isolated.

File: is this gorilla serious.jpg (39KB, 250x333px) Image search: [Google]

39KB, 250x333px

>>52702353
>no satyruses or wildmen

>>52705545
Dwarf men are still romantic, but sex doesn't play a big role in their ideas of women. They all want a good, strong wife to make more little miners with, but 9/10 won't get that in their lives. So they participate in fashion and worry about their rings matching their circlets and the shine of their chainmail, but they also prefer Industry & Drink to sex.

>>52692192
>>52700484
In my setting, gnomes are the hippie druids and crazy "FOR SCIENCE" wizards/alchemists to the drunk fighter and taciturn smith dwarves
I think it gives them a nice niche

File: 1464643325815.jpg (370KB, 1600x1600px) Image search: [Google]

370KB, 1600x1600px

The god of earth and sand and his followers super shits on elves because they outright refused his help when he put pity on the early tribes of races in the world and taught them to survive his domains and handed out the rare gift of geomancy. They STILL refuse to pay homage when they travel through caves or across deserts and shit. It is very unlikely to find an elf in a barren rocky or desert climate

tl;dr hereditary curse.

>>52705639
I do have satyrs as a minor, non-playable race, but I don't really see the point in making Wild Men a race.

>>52698686
AGoB:DF Elves are some of the weirdest out there, without leaving the proximity of standard fantasy.

File: il_570xN.330723805[1].jpg (45KB, 488x670px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 488x670px

>>52704635
>Does your setting have gnomes or a race of your own design?
I am indeed and sure.
I may as well include some of my other less-player-used races while I'm at it.

>Gnomes
-Often see as, "Dwarves that bake cookies or make watches while living inside trees."
-Famous for making these really neat, tidy, picturesque villages with lovely colourful, pointy, almost gingerbread-like houses.
-Dwarves see them as "deserters" since a Gnome is literally just a Dwarf that never went back to living underground.
-From an outsiders perspective it's literally just, "two conservative dwarven groups arguing over which lifestyle is correct."

>Kobolds
-Excellent blacksmiths, engineers, architects and miners- almost on par with the dwarves.
-Legend say a kobold that lives for 30 years becomes a Dragonborn- 100 and they become a Dragon.

>Goblins
-Compulsive child abductors due to very strong paternal/maternal instincts. Reverse Cuckoos; they'll raise any child they can get their mits on.
-Neutered/spayed Goblins become quite intelligent and make for serviceable smiths, engineers, and excellent chemists/alchemists... Otherwise they're high-sexual-impact nymphomaniacs.
-Dragons have very serious debates over which minion is better: Goblins or Kobolds.
-The Sex Trade in poorer areas are infested with Goblin Pits. Literal pits filled with goblins; customers pay to get thrown in and then fished out when they're too exhausted and chaffed to fight off further goblin advances.

>Ogres
-Master chefs and even better bushwhackers; culinary geniuses when it comes to bush and monster meat.
-Two-Headed Ogres have an annoying proficiency for magic and aren't even that uncommon- usually a couple to every gang, either leading or advising.

>>52701649
I was never really a big fan of Dwarfia, Elfreich, Halflingland, etc. Like maybe a couple nations are one race majority, but it always felt more natural for different cultures to have their own pockets of non-humans.

That may be down to most of my classic experience being from Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms though.

>>52701332
Santa elf aesthetic applied to regular elves is one of the greatest things.

>>52704668
>implying that that isn't the names of everything just with a few hundred years of the telephone game in between.

>>52696200
That's adorable, anon.

>>52705639
I'm assuming satyruses are an unconscionably horny all-male race with human torsos and massive wrinkly flippers rather than legs.

>>52708468
Actually they have the top half of a walrus and hairy legs of a human male.

File: 1419369304641[1].jpg (142KB, 651x520px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 651x520px

>>52701649
>>52705462
>>52707924

I'm just gonna poke in here with my opinion but:

I've always felt it made more sense for any most if not all playable races to be a big movers, shakers, city makers, you know? Like, it's always felt clunky that Humans just filled up all these places and it wasn't more segregated by geography n' environment.

And while you've got a bunch of one-race communities in more isolated or self-sufficient communities: mix-race trading communities aren't uncommon and if anything usually get much larger than the isolates due to trade and inexpensive, smelly, migrant-workers.

It'd also probably help the bias since adventurers most likely wouldn't be allowed easy entry or ye olde work visas in a single-race communities unless the whole party was of that race or a neighbor.

Quick, I need something playing off the fact that in most D&D editions/settings, Halflings do not have their own racial language and aren't said to have ever had one.

>>52692192
I sometimes do this with common low-level enemy races, as follows:
- Kobolds are bastards. They're nothing in a straight fight, but they're good at running, acrobatics, climbing- anything to get away.
There's three reasons why basically any township with nearby kobolds sees them as a scourge:
1. They're kleptomaniacs. They'll steal anything and everything, especially if its shiny. At first, dropped coins will be enough to appease the little rats, but as their numbers swell and they grow more bold, it becomes a real problem.A locked door is usually enough to keep them out... usually.
Secondly, they breed rapidly. A small group of kobolds left alone will invariably turn into a colony hundreds strong, making it nigh impossible to uproot them as there'll always be survivors to start over.
And, lastly, the fuckers are devious. Invading their warrens without a trained eye usually leads to a slow death, as they've learned how to make rudimentary traps and understand basic physics and mechanics. How, or why, no one is exactly sure. Plus, it's not like anything is well made or manufactured or even hidden- simple triggers, simple traps- but the sheer fact is, they understand and defend their warrens with such things. It only gets worse as the warrens grow deeper and larger.

Once the kobolds have a moderately-sized dwelling or better near a town, there's basically no way to get rid of them. It does keep adventurers employed, and at times, weeds out those too stupid to recognize an obvious trap.

>>52692192

Elves -- Stole the idea from Jim Butcher's work. Elves = fae, with all the blue and orange morality inherent within them. Also fighting and dying in countless numbers manning the walls keeping older, darker shit from entering the Material Plane. The few elves you see originate from the few homelands left to their race, and they do not like other species intruding upon the lands where they foster their children. They believe that in manning the gates between worlds, they prevent a deeper darkness from plaguing the Material Plane. As a result, there are few adventures who have survived to tell tales of other planes in the cosmos.

Dwarves -- You never see them. Great craftsfolk and masters of enchantment. So great was their skill that they became known for powerful weapons and items, and kingdoms sent adventurers far and wide for their gifts. The dwarves got tired of it and created a dweomer that all but erased their existence from the world. Adventurers find legacies of their existence and many a kingdom's vault contains a device or weapon of Dwarven make. Such things are WMDs of the land.

Orcs -- Oddly enough, humans and orcs get along well enough. Orcs are, for all their assumed brutishness and capable savagery, are masterful bards and capable clerics. Were circumstances different, were the elves more interested in the ways of Mankind, orcs and men would be at each other's throats until the end of time. But after Man was scorned by the Elder Races and after both their own and the orcs' creator deities were slain so very long ago, both orcs and men reached out to one another as siblings of a sort. Orphaned brothers and sisters born of other mothers and fathers. Men taught literacy and science to orcs, and orcs taught art and religion to men. To say the least, half-orcs are a common sight in both orcish and human lands.

Halflings -- Great sailors and astronomers. Tiny beings that seek the heavens for meaning and roam the seas in great "burrow-crafts."

>>52709123

(continued)

Gnomes -- The gnomes are what the common-folk assume the Dwarves are, tiny beings that are born with a pick-axe in one hand and a hammer in the other, living out their days mining or smithing or drinking ale by the gallon. This is incorrect, as the stereotype the common-folk have of the elves is more fitting. Rangers and druids, dwellers of the forest, you will never know a gnome is in the area unless they want to be seen. Stones flow, trees bend, and animals howl at a gnome's command. As such, they have grown rich in wooded areas as they hold tight the safe passages through forests and jungles.

Aasimar and Tieflings -- Of all creatures, these are the most loathsome as they are puppets of powers beyond most mortals. Their heritage links them to realms most do not encounter until after death and as such, they are beholden to others' whims if they cannot resist. Most speak ill of the tieflings, for there are many "little horns" that turn to depravity upon their fellow mortals. But there are also stories of aasimar who have gone on rampages at the behest of glorious luminaries who have taken offense at some action they've perceived through the half-breed's senses. Aasimar are most commonly associated with paladins and clerics, but there are known rogues and assassins who carry within a divine heritage. And tieflings are not always drawn to dark powers, for many have used their innate gift for the arcane and necromancy for benevolent purposes. Every king has a spirit-guide on hand to seek wisdom from his ancestors. And every noble quest has had a paladin to carry on the torch of righteousness for the cause.

Orcs in my game have some crossed wires somehow, and have some animal instinct in their brains. They have to spend time socializing with other races on a semi-regular basis, or they'd forget things like smiling isn't a threat and hugs are not a show of dominance.

Coincidentally, this does make them exceedingly great at getting along with animals, and places occupied by orcs tend to have wild animals roaming around.

My current concept setting's races are mostly a mix of weebshit and some typical D&D types mixed together.

Catfolk (more humans with cat features than the other way around) largely live on the coasts, and are the dominant force when it comes to pretty much anything dealing with the sea. They are also wildly superstitious to the point where it often bothers the other races. Groups of them that have also settled inland primarily to escape their seacat cousin's obnoxious tendencies.

Foxfolk (same as the cats, also yay being terrible with coming up with names) live entirely in the desert regions in nomadic groups, driven by a long standing religious tradition that fighting through struggles in life guarantees paradise in the afterlife. They also have a strict belief in everything having a purpose, and that there is no place for superfluous attachment to people or objects. Their most distinct trait is their natural affinity for magic, similar to the difference between Sorcerers and Wizards in D&D.

Elves are something of an oddity. Only ~200 of them exist, and they're isolated to a single (albeit large) forest. Flawed creations of a well-meaning goddess, they live short lives (roughly 40 years at the top end) and lack constitution. Due to their unusual origins, they're able to shift their body into an entirely spirit-based state, freeing them from physical restraints and allowing them extreme maneuverability and agility in bursts. Originally little better off than a group of children lost in the woods, they were taken in and trained in the ways of the bow and the hunt by one of the lesser deities.

>>52692192
In my one campaign Halflings are intrinsically tied to Humans in a "you won't know if your kid is halfling or human until is grows up or not" kind of deal, halflings are seen largely as meek, weak, wasteful, incapable, childish, shifty, and something to be taken advantage of. Even their name halfling denotes something not whole. The way they are treated is very reminiscent of child labour in the Victorian era. This has made halflings into a very guarded lot, with underground networks and customs that is imperceptible from polite conversation. They have also become incredibly adept at remaining unseen. This is all of course flipped on it's head with the only soverign Halfling land that is very much like a Napoleonic Munchkinland from Oz, with a byzantine set of guilds running the majority of the country.

>>52692192
For a CYOA that I'll probably never finish anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViftZTfRSt8
>Goblins are related loosely not only to the fairy courts but to elves and drow in particular. The relationship is left ambiguous on purpose but they are believed to be some sort of magical splinter that ocurred naturally in some cosmic chuckle. Goblin kings actually learn magic depending on their personality, their deeds and the closest they are to shamen and hexers in their kingdom. This is why competition is so fierce, royal goblins are suppossed to be the best spontaneous casters of their race, the stronger and more successful you are, the closest you are to the original king who basically is every gobo's ancestor here. Goblin king's magic is also incredibly cheap and strong for its level, so much that there is no explanation as to why they can create huge forts from nothing or enchant things just using with their snot. If they weren't so volatile they would pose a credible threat to lesser gods.
>Elves care for nature not because they're tree huggers but because their own physical health is tied strongly to nature. Fuck up enough trees and whole populations get magical rot and aids, if not die instantly. Worse are catasthrophes wrought by civilized races, they produce a weird race of undead corrupt drowish hydrocephallic things that consume flesh and can phase through solid objects and magical barriers. It's gotten so bad that by the time gunpowder is generalized, all elves are born with some level of corruption and rot that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Most use natural magic to slow their own demise and are so desperate that they will marry their own daughters to any race that doesn't fuck up forests too much. Because of this, elves and half elves have high as fuck manipulation and diplomacy, the ones that tried to directly confront the rest of the races were murdered. In different scenarios they control about 25% of the world.

>>52711308
Also one of my players suggested that primitive humans should be descended from the lowest species of orc, and survive due to sheer cruelty, numbers, a more cohesive social structure, and a "capacity for holding grudges and effecting them in the worst, most opportune momment imaginable", which is hilarious because the setting's humans are very much adherent to the HFY, and believe they were crafted from the bodies of the gods.

Halflings are carnivorous (They eat ANY meat, including humies) nomadic tribesmen who terrorize any they come across with cunning tactics and large numbers.

File: 1478489517606.jpg (201KB, 650x700px) Image search: [Google]

201KB, 650x700px

>>52695352
I like to tie this in with the theme of demonic corruption.
Forging with demonic fires that can burn as hot as the furnaces of civilised races despite the gnolls' nomadic lifestyle.
Grips and handles made from the bones and tanned skin of humanoids and demons.
Infernal metals with otherworldly properties.
Diabolic enchantments fueled by bound evil spirits and captured souls.

File: 1395199587235.jpg (360KB, 600x849px) Image search: [Google]

360KB, 600x849px

Naga are tribal island-dwellers who worship the life giving volcano god and use their tails to swim around and strangle large sea creatures to death.

They're barely sentient barbaric monsters. They make great pirates.

>>52701485
>>52701826

The 4e and Pathfinder spin on gnomes was rad. I lean more towards 4e's interpretation though because as cool as the whole seek thrills or die thing in Pathfinder is I feel it encourages too much randumb behavior...

>>52712326
>and Pathfinder
gross

File: Orc_Woman.jpg (306KB, 763x1000px) Image search: [Google]

306KB, 763x1000px

>>52705580
Thank-you. I also do the same to barbarians.

For some added fun you could have the telling of the story be a bit more performance as well with a bit of choreography and base the tribe's fighting style(s) off of that so that when a tribe fights there is a deeper meaning to its brutal strikes.

It would be like the orcish equivalent of a ballet and provide a more interesting explanation for why orcish culture is so prone to combat.

>>52698923
Hey, I think your stuff is neat, I loved the overlord thing and used it to make a few dungeons for my campaign

File: Classy_Halfling.jpg (78KB, 402x1000px) Image search: [Google]

78KB, 402x1000px

>>52708718
Have the Halfling race be the one that created Common? Maybe once every century the Halflings are gifted by their god with the ability/capacity to create a concept or idea that somehow takes root in every culture across the planet?

Not sure about the quality of my ideas but I hope I helped.

File: HHhmmm.jpg (95KB, 600x405px) Image search: [Google]

95KB, 600x405px

>>52712629
Didn't say the system was good just that there was some interesting fluff. Hell F.A.T.A.L. has some interesting fluff. Problem there is that it is interesting in a sort of watch this man freely put his own scrotum in a blender sort of way.

Elves are an all female species that use males of other races to reproduce a la the Amazon Molly
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_molly
Orcs were created via the union of Elves and goblins that almost drove the elves to extinction. The resulting orcs had an uncanny knack for cross breeding with other races, so most Orcs can trace their family lineage from six to a dozen different species depending on the geographic region.

Don't die on me

>>52708718
Slave race who had their culture exterminated centuries ago

>>52713098
My joke headcanon is that Elves and Dwarves are actually the same species, highly sexually dimorphic—Elves being the females, Dwarves the males.

They're both as long-lived as they are because they need to be to survive as a species—they only make once every couple of decades because of their intense tsundere for each other.

Dwarven alcoholism is an adaptation that's basically a desperate attempt by their suppressed reproductive instinct to somehow bypass their deeply entrenched cultural dislike for Elves. Dwarves instinctively/unconsciously try to get themselves drunk to be able to actually make a child.

Elves present themselves as rape-bait to all races because it lets them pretend they're not the same as Dwarves, and that Dwarves are just another unrelated race of barbarians raping them, rather than their proper mates.

File: PicardDisgust.png (423KB, 674x722px) Image search: [Google]

423KB, 674x722px

>>52713098
>>52715023
Elf haters are some warped people

File: this is some bullshit.png (35KB, 628x476px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 628x476px

>>52715089
>Make interesting alteration to elves as a species or elf society
>HOW DARE YOU CHANGE MY PERFECT WAIFU

File: 54146873_p0.jpg (2MB, 4000x2190px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 4000x2190px

>>52712159
That sounds a little like my Nagas, who are a sub-race of long, amphibious mermaids, who live in swamps, riverine systems, and a few other niche habitats. (Some might have established themselves on small, uninhabited islands, too.)

It doesn't make any sense for a humanoid to trade their legs for a snake-like tail, nor for a serpent/snake to develop an upper body like a human's.
Mammalian mermaids, close relatives of humans, simply developing a longer body (which wouldn't inhibit their movement much; they'd just start swimming more like sea snakes) is much less unlikely though.

Mermaids living at the coast and at river mouths would benefit from being able to hop on land once in a while: they could gather wood for tools/weapons and other terrestrial resources by themselves, find new food sources, and still hop back into the water and swim away if a large predator approaches.

Amphibious though they may be, their primary habitat would still be in the water; their movements on land are too sluggish to stand against humans and other land-dwellers, and they can't climb very well at all—but it's enough to forage on river banks, to hunt small game in the swamp, or to travel overland for short distances if need be.

Nonetheless, they would be stuck in the stone age without access to metallurgy, live in small tribes, and overall live worse lives than marine mermaids with their sophisticated mariculture and trade networks that allow them access to human bronze tools and weapons.

>>52715155
To be fair, if you bring up gynogenesis you're definitely just looking for an excuse to insert your magical realm into the setting.
I would know, I've been flirting with the idea myself. Between my dick and my autism, the latter still wins out though, fortunately.

File: Feanor.png (623KB, 600x900px) Image search: [Google]

623KB, 600x900px

>>52715155
>hey guys my elves are a literal race of waifus that exist to be raped by everyone else lol I'm so creative xD
>A noldor looks disapprovingly in your direction

>>52712159
>They're barely sentient barbaric monsters.
But do they all look like hot girls?

One thing pretty much all my dwarven societies are really into is penal labor, especially mining projects in green hells or arctic wastelands.
Started one game escaping from an arctic island penal colony and another from a chain gang.

>>52715572
That sounds like magical realm

>>52715089
>>52715508

I >>52711010 ended up with the same base concept for my own take on elves (the entire race being female) but only because its part of their screwed up creation mythos. They don't even reproduce sexually, its more like energy-based budding.

Still makes me feel trashy though, not happy with it.

>>52715648
>They don't even reproduce sexually, its more like energy-based budding
Asari are shit

File: 1471121120978.png (499KB, 449x642px) Image search: [Google]

499KB, 449x642px

>>52715331
I just wanted to emulate the way Tolkien created the Urk-hai whilst applying a twist present in real life.
Similar to how you made Nagas very long people instead of snake people
>>52715508
I could apply the same shit to Kobolds and no one would be complaining
>>52715648
>energy-based budding.
please explain

>>52715715
>I could apply the same shit to Kobolds and no one would be complaining
Nigga people are complaining about 5e's hermaphroditic kobolds, you'd be damn sure they'd complain about rape-bait waifu scaly fetish kobolds.

I've never met a player who actually wants to do the whole angsty halfbreed junk, so I've always upgraded halforcs and halfelves to full subraces. You can still play halfsies if you want, but none of my players ever have.

High orcs I run as fantasy Klingons, often heading nations of their lesser orc brethren. They worship deified ancestors or heroes and are not down with being enslaved by alien god beings. Wilder elves are pretty much redneck elves that let you know you're too deep in the wrong woods or wandering bands of shady nogoodniks. They still kinda get the shunned by two worlds end of the stick, but as a subrace they get more room to respond, "Fine. Fuck you too."

>>52715682

See you're the second person now to draw a similar comparison which just makes me feel worse. I didn't even want Elves in the first place, my brain is the one who went off on this tangent and I just rolled with it.

>>52715715

>please explain

Basically the setting's two primary gods are the Mother Sun and the Father Moon, representing the Spiritual and the Physical (I was already waste-deep into this when I realized I had just recreated the concept of Yin and Yang with a different flavor). The Elves are the result of what was basically a lover's quarrel between the two. Created solely by the Sun in an attempt to make a perfect creature beyond this apparent need for "balance", they ended up incredibly flawed. One of these flaws is in their life-death cycle. As primarily Spiritual-leaning beings, they don't reproduce normally. Instead, once they reach a certain age, they're able to accumulate and split off a portion of their own being to produce a new elf, who are born looking around 10 years old compared to humans.

The only reason they didn't just die off like the horrible little mistakes they are is because Father Moon took pity on them and tasked one of the lesser gods to watch over them. The moral of the story is that sometimes shit is the way it is for a reason and you shouldn't fuck about with it when you don't know what you're doing.

File: History.png (24KB, 648x648px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 648x648px

>>52712830
>Hey, I think your stuff is neat, I loved the overlord thing and used it to make a few dungeons for my campaign

Well thank you, Anon!
It always means a lot to me to hear that people have enjoyed something I've made.
I'm just trying to aspire to create good fantasy content that people can enjoy and use- for all their fantastical purposes.

That overlord project was such a hassle to complete, but I glad I finished it- if only because I got waaaaay better at drawing because of it. I'd like to make a living off of this sort of stuff one day.

>>52715757
I don't know what to say man
I just like fish