Replacing Racial Traits:  Dwarves     

In the past few posts, I've laid some groundwork for how I approach race in Pathfinder and D&D.  Let's look at how that approach can help break down the structure of racial traits.  I'll use dwarves as my example this time, since elves have already gotten a lot of love.

Here's what I am using for the basic dwarven heritage:

Dwarven Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Dwarven
• Underground Dwellers:  low-light vision
• Builders:  +2 Craft, +2 Knowledge (engineering)
• Merchants:  +2 Appraise

For game balancing purposes, each heritage gets three +2 skill bonuses and one additional non-magical ability, which I classify as being slightly less powerful than a feat.  (More on feats in a later post!)

Dwarves have been portrayed in many different ways, and there has been a large amount of disagreement about what characteristics are essentially dwarven.  Everything from appearance (beards on all genders?) to some of their traditional habits (drinking and singing about gold?) to real-world cultural references (Nordic dwarves vs. Germanic dwarves vs. Scottish dwarves?) has been the subject of so much controversy that Terry Pratchett has written whole sub-plots of his books about it.

I've started from the assumption that dwarves live underground, that they build things (mines count as things), and that they seem to be interested in money and trade (you can't eat gold, after all).  I've given them low-light vision instead of darkvision for several reasons:  first, dwarven mines and cities in fantasy RPGs always appear to be fairly well-lit; second, darkvision is ridiculously over-used; and third, I prefer darkvision to be more useful for seeing in the kind of darkness that players most likely face as a real obstacle, namely magical darkness.  This means that darkvision should also be magical, which makes it a birthright.

My discussion, in previous posts, about issues of size and racial hatred explain the reasons that some of the other Pathfinder dwarven traits are missing.

But now dwarves are very bare-bones, without a lot of detail.  How can we add in the level of interest that the Pathfinder rules provide, without having a huge list of things for the player to read?  First, let's review some design goals and parameters.

Identity, Heritage, and Birthright Mechanics Parameters

• If a trait is something you are born with (nature), then it is an identity or a birthright.  If it is non-magical, it is an identity and does not alter the mechanics of the game.
• A magical trait you are born with is a birthright.  It can be represented either through a feat (or feat tree if it is very powerful, like being able to fly), or it can be part of a class feature (such as a sorcerer bloodline).
• If a trait is something you acquire through your upbringing (nurture), then it is part of your heritage.
• Heritage grants three +2 bonuses to skills and one special ability.
• Special abilities should be slightly less powerful than a feat.
• Changes to either skills or special abilities can be the result of a different heritage or the blending of two heritages.
• Whenever possible, as a design goal, special abilities and birthright feats should not grant bonuses that are only applicable in certain, very specific situations.  Too many of these clutter up a character sheet and are too many unnecessary things for a player to keep track of.
• Ideally, heritages and birthrights should be evocative, they should provide for good story opportunities, they should not hinder the story by limiting the agency of the character, and they should be easy to understand.

Dwarven Alternate Racial Traits in Pathfinder

Pathfinder includes over forty alternate racial traits for dwarves in its rules.  First, I want to eliminate the alternate traits that are substitute racial hatred traits.  I've talked about my reasons for doing this in the prior post.  There is one possible substitute for these traits, which is the favored enemy feat.  I'll talk more about that more when we get to rangers.  For now, suffice to say that favored enemy could go one of two ways:  a hunter of monsters or an enemy of a (generally evil) organization.  Here's how some of the racial traits for dwarves break down along those lines:

• Hunter:  The initial Defensive Training trait (giants), Barrow Scholar (undead), Barrow Warden (undead), Deep Warrior (aberrations), Giant Hunter (giants), Saltbeard (aquatic creatures), Sense Aberrations (aberrations), Wyrmscourged (dragons)
• Enemy:  The initial Hatred trait (orcs and goblins), Ancient Enmity (elves), Spell Smasher (spell casters), Xenophobic (some sort of enemy organization that uses mind control).

Note that these traits, as written, have bonuses that are all over the place.  Instead of having to keep track of which specific bonuses go with which Hunter or Enemy feat, it is much easier to use the favored enemy template, which in Pathfinder provides +2 Bluff, +2 Knowledge, +2 Perception, +2 Sense Motive, +2 Survival, +2  attack, and +2 damage.  Since all characters now gain the bonus feat that was previously reserved for humans, dwarves can take favored enemy as a feat to duplicate the effects of these racial traits.

Next, let's look at racial traits that add skill bonuses.  Some are already covered in the heritage as I've written it.  Some of these represent new heritages.  And some are abilities that should probably be feats (these are often the ones that would otherwise add RP to the race, under Pathfinder rules), and can be taken as a bonus feat at first level.

Already Covered

• Craftsman:  Technically, this also gives a +2 to Profession.  I'll talk about why I think Profession should be eliminated as a Skill in a later post.  But if you don't want to eliminate it, then this could be a new heritage instead.
• Low-light Vision:  Already a special ability of dwarves.
• Greed:  Covered by the +2 Appraise in the base heritage.

New Heritages

• Fey Magic:  This gives the favored terrain ability, which is probably best reworked as a special ability.  Dwarves with mystical fey connections to their homes sound unique, and they would probably gain different skill bonuses than the "standard" dwarf.  The spell-like abilities granted by this racial trait can be duplicated by taking the birthright feat: sorcerous blood.
• Fey Thoughts:  This could be combined into the heritage above, granting +2 bonuses on appropriate skills.
• Lorekeeper:  Dwarves who value books and study are distinct enough from dwarves who are builders and miners that it could warrant a new heritage.  It is possible that this represents a different class of dwarves, living in the same cities as the others, but with their own heritage and traditions.
• Mountaineer:  This could be simplified into favored terrain (mountains) and used for another heritage, dwarves who live outside on the mountains, rather than underground.
• Saltbeard:  Dwarves at sea!  A new idea that merits a new heritage.
• Sky Sentinel:  Dwarves in the air!  However, see the section on feats, below, as well.
• Stoic Negotiator:  These dwarves don't seem interested in mining and building, but are focused on being merchants.  Since our "standard" dwarves are already merchants, this might be a good candidate for a blended heritage to gain the +2 Bluff and Diplomacy.
• Surface Survivalist:  Dwarves that no longer live underground, but likely have favored terrain as their special ability instead of low-light vision.  This might be the same heritage as Mountaineer, above.

Bonus Feats

• Behind the Veil:  This gives two +2 skill bonuses, only under certain circumstances, for 1 RP.  As a feat, it should probably be somewhat more powerful, and associated with a feat tree themed around concealment and shadows.
• Darkvision:  A birthright feat, written up in a prior post.
• Dimdweller:  Another feat in the same tree as Behind the Veil.
• Dusksight:  Another feat in the same tree as Behind the Veil.  These are all skills for using dim light and concealment to gain combat advantages.
• (original trait) Hardy:  See Healthy and Magic Resistant below.
• Healthy:  Resistances to disease and poison (and needing fewer rolls to save against them) should be part of a feat tree with Great Fortitude.
• Lasting Grudge:  Should be rewritten as a feat.  This is a good example of a birthright feat that reads more like a curse, but nonetheless provides a benefit to an adventurer.
• Magic Resistant:  Unbalanced as written, this could be a part of a feat tree.  However, feats that scale with character level should be approached with extreme caution:  they are almost always better off as class abilities.
• Minesight:  A birthright feat that could be part of a feat tree with Darkvision.
• Poison Minion:  This 4 RP (!) trait is an interesting plot device, but if it is going to be used as a part of character creation then it should be a birthright feat (likely a tree of such feats).  Not for every campaign, but I could see an entire adventure based around this concept!
• Sky Sentinel:  Although I think this should totally be a new heritage, it could also probably be part of a feat tree based on combat with flying creatures.  However, because it is not particularly supernatural, it probably is not a good candidate for a birthright feat, and should instead be a combat feat.
• (original trait) Stability:  Part of a combat feat tree based around standing your ground.
• Stonecunning:  A birthright feat, written up in a prior post.
• Relentless:  Part of a combat feat tree.
• Rockstepper:  Part of a combat feat tree.
• Stubborn:  Resistances for particular uses of Will saves.  Should be part of a feat tree with Iron Will.
• Tightfisted:  Should be a feat, although it's kind of all over the place and needs to be rewritten a bit.
• Treasure Sense:  Definitely a birthright feat and a very interesting one!
• Unstoppable:  Essentially this is already a feat (Toughness), with an added +1 Fortitude save.  More on Toughness in my post on feats.
• Viscous Blood:  A really weird birthright feat, but certainly evokes a lot of potential story ideas!
• Voice in the Darkness:  See Behind the Veil above.

Note that birthright feats that are part of a feat tree could very well be taken after first level.  By taking the first feat, you have laid the groundwork that it is a magical or supernatural ability that your character has.  As the game progresses, and your character learns to control this magic, and they gain additional benefits from it.

Sorcerous Bloodline Abilities (or other Class Birthright Abilities)

There are a few dwarven Pathfinder traits, such as Shadowhunter, Shadowplay, and Stonesinger, that may work best as class abilities based on a birthright.  Stonesinger makes direct reference to the deep earth and elemental earth bloodlines.  Shadowhunter would appear to be a good match with the undead bloodline, while Shadowplay matches well with the shadow bloodline.  More on sorcerous bloodlines when we get to character classes!

This blog is funded by my Patreon! All proceeds are donated toward making gaming a more fun and more diverse place! Thank you so much to all my Patrons! https://www.patreon.com/openhouserules

OGL Races as Heritages    

If you like the idea of using heritages in your game instead of race, here are some conversions of Open Game Content races.  These are my versions of the races, but they can be easily modified if you want to put a different spin on them, or focus on a different feature.  Note that there are no "half-races."  If a player wants to have a character of mixed heritage, they may combine any two heritages together.  If they want to play a character who has a magical or supernatural ability, please see some sample birthright rules below.  What about humans, they are not listed here?  I discuss this in more detail below, but essentially, these are heritages, not races.  If you want to play a city dweller, that is a heritage.  If you want to play a forest dweller, then Elven is a heritage available to you, if you live with people who call themselves elves.  Neither makes any judgment on your humanity, or lack thereof, as discussed in more detail below.

Dwarven Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Dwarven
• Underground Dwellers:  low-light vision
• Builders:  +2 Craft, +2 Knowledge (engineering)
• Merchants:  +2 Appraise

Elven Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Elven
• Nocturnal:  low-light vision
• Wilderness Dwellers:  +2 Perception, +2 Knowledge (nature)
• Arcane Magic Users:  +2 Spellcraft

Gnomish Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Gnomish
• Familiar with Illusions:  +2 Will save
• Live in Hiding:  +2 Perception, +2 Stealth 
• Arcane Magic Users:  +2 Spellcraft

Halfling Heritage Traits (note that I still do not like the use of the word Halfling, but unfortunately most other commonly known synonyms are copyrighted).

• Language:  Common and Halfling
• Fearless Explorers:  +1 to all saves
• Mountain and Tree Climbers:  +2 Acrobatics, +2 Climb
• Travelers:  +2 Knowledge (geography)

Orcish Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Orcish
• Wasteland Dwellers:  +2 Fortitude save
• Warriors:  +2 Intimidate
• Animal Tamers:  +2 Handle Animal, +2 Ride  (if inspired by Tolkien, these can refer to Orcs' use of dire wolves as mounts)

Humanity for Everyone (and some notes about size)

If you are using these heritages together with other Pathfinder rules, you may note that they seem under-powered.  This is because, without the use of race (as it is used in D&D), all characters share the essential things that make us human:  free will and agency, intelligence and feelings, adaptability and tradition.

As a result, all characters, regardless of their heritage, gain an additional +2 on any ability score of their choice, and an additional feat at first level.  They do not gain the +1 skill point per level that humans would normally get as a Pathfinder race.  This has the effect of making heritages compatible (roughly) with Pathfinder.  Although first-level characters built using these rules will be slightly more powerful, that advantage will diminish over time, until characters who are around tenth level and higher will be slightly less powerful.  However, at that level, the few skill points lost are unlikely to cause any problems with using Pathfinder adventure products.

The additional feat can, if the player wishes, be used to choose a birthright.  Birthright feats should generally be chosen at first level (unless there is a compelling reason not to).  As described earlier, birthrights are always magical or supernatural in nature.

I also want to add some notes concerning size of characters.  In D&D and in Pathfinder, player characters are generally Medium sized, sometimes Small sized (if playing Gnomes or Halflings, for example), and rarely Large sized.  Size is something that is an ableism problem in D&D.  The concept that little people (in the real world, meaning people born with dwarfism) are more akin to mythological creatures than human beings is a pernicious one.  Fantasy has a sordid history of fetishizing and dehumanizing disability.  How can we avoid that in this case?  Actually, it is not particularly hard.

In Pathfinder, Small size refers to creatures or people that are 2 feet tall to 4 feet tall, Medium refers to creatures or people that are 4 feet to 8 feet tall, and Large refers to creatures or people that are 8 feet to 16 feet tall.  These are fairly large ranges.  As a side note, Peter Dinklage, whose character Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones is one of the rare examples of a human little person in the fantasy genre, is 4 foot 5.  Medium size encompasses most of adult humanity, and there is no reason it cannot be extended to encompass all of it.  Thus, Medium size refers to adult, human sized creatures or people, in all their variation.  Small size or Large size refers to human children (who are Small sized), creatures that are significantly smaller or larger than humans, or humans who are magically or supernaturally smaller or larger due to a birthright.  Size due to a birthright extends, by definition, outside of the range of normal humanity.

Some may argue, "But this would result in halflings using greataxes!  How is that at all realistic?"  My response is: if you want to play a very short person, it is because that is how you want your character to look.  You aren't getting the bonuses for being a small size unless you choose it as a birthright (in which case the normal size penalties and restrictions for weapons apply.)  If your story goal is to play someone small and overlooked, who nonetheless rises to greatness (in the grand Tolkein tradition), you are unlikely to want to play someone swinging around a greataxe.  If, on the other hand, you want to play a character who looks relatively powerless but will, in the blink of an eye, pull out a greataxe and hack your ankles off (in the equally grand Pratchett tradition), and that fits the flavor of the campaign and the stories you want to tell, then by all means, go right ahead!

Sample Birthrights

Birthrights can take the form of feats or special class abilities (such as Bloodlines for sorcerers).  The birthrights listed below are feats.  Most birthright feats are supernatural abilities, unless specified otherwise.

Darkvision:  When in completely darkness only, you can see the area around you (in a 60 foot radius), as if it were fully lit.  This ability functions even in magical darkness.

Dragonspawn:  You are immune to any draconic Fearful Presence ability.

Elemental Resistance:  You gain resistance 5 to one of acid, cold, electricity, or fire.

Large Size:  You are Large size instead of Medium.

Small Size:  You are Small size instead of Medium.

Sorcerous Blood:  You can cast four cantrips or orisons, as if you were a sorcerer of your caster level.  This is a spell-like ability.

Speak with Animals:  You can communicate with a specific type of animal (e.g., bear or crow or frog), as per the spell, as a supernatural ability.

Stonecunning:  You can automatically notice unusual stonework, including secret doors in stone walls, if you are searching for them.  Even if you are not actively searching, merely passing next to such stonework will allow you a Perception check to notice it.

Wakefulness:  You are immune to magical forms of sleep.

This blog is funded by my Patreon! All proceeds are donated toward making gaming a more fun and more diverse place! Thank you so much to all my Patrons! https://www.patreon.com/openhouserules

Heritage and Race:  Creating New Rules    

Earlier, I talked about race in Pathfinder and I suggested different ways to break that concept down.  There are a few other issues with the way that Pathfinder (and Dungeons & Dragons) handles race that have less to do with story and more to do with system mechanics (but can be solved in ways that make better story!)  And there is one other elephant in the room that I want to talk about, and that is the concept of racial hatred.

In Dungeons & Dragons, humanity was always the default.  Races that were not human had advantages mainly in how they could multiclass.  Specifically, humans couldn't do it, but certain multiclass combinations were available only to characters of certain races.  This was "balanced" by a number of factors, including level caps for certain classes and experience point requirements for making level.  It was all fairly cludgy and got entirely rewritten when Third Edition came out.

However, some of the concepts from prior games continued to build on each other, until by the time you reach Pathfinder, race plays a huge role in your game and has a ton of game mechanics.

Again, let's use Elves as an example.

Here are the things that choosing an Elf as your character involve, in terms of what you need to keep track of and write down on your character sheet:

• Ability Scores:  Elves gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and -2 Constitution
• Subtype:  Elves have a subtype of Humanoid (Elf) which comes into play very rarely in the game (for situations such as when an opponent has Favored Enemy).
• Languages:  Common and Elven, and then a particular list for bonus languages due to having a high Intelligence.
• Immunity to magical sleep effects.
• +2 bonus to save vs. enchantment spells and effects.
• +2 bonus on Perception.
• +2 caster level check to overcome spell resistance.
• +2 bonus on Spellcraft, only for purposes of identifying magic items.
• Proficiency with longbows, composite longbows, shortbows, composite shortbows, longswords, and rapiers.
• Treat any weapon with the word "elven" in it as a martial weapon.
• Low-light vision
• There are also tables for rolling height, weight, and age (although, to be fair, those things rarely are used in the game at all.)

Some of these things you can write on your character sheet and more or less forget about for the rest of the game (subtype).  Some of them will not come into play unless you are playing a specific class (overcoming spell resistance).  Some of them will be completely useless to you if you are playing certain classes (weapon proficiencies).  Several of them are exceptions to general rules that you must write out on your character sheet if you haven't got them memorized (bonus to save vs. enchantment, bonus to Spellcraft only in one particular situation).  Note that most character sheets will not have room for you to write this in easily.

This is not, however, the end of your decisions regarding race!  There are currently forty alternate racial traits listed in the Pathfinder SRD, each with its own rules, prerequisites, etc., that you may want to use to replace some of the traits you already have.  In fact, you may feel cheated if you don't, since the fighter you are making has no use for three of the traits on the list.  If you haven't chosen a class yet, you may want to examine the favored class options, each of which grants a very specific, but tiny, reward every time you level up in the class you have chosen as "favored" (which could be any class available).  There are also racial archetypes that will change certain class abilities, racial feats that are only available to elves, and racial prestige classes that only elves can aspire to.

I could, if I wanted to, create an "elf" who had the racial traits of creepy, darkvision, fleet footed, and elemental resistance: cold, which would replace every trait above except for the ability score modifiers.  I am now, essentially, playing an entirely different race.

I am all in favor of empowering the player with many different choices when it comes to character creation.  But I am not in favor of drowning players with unnecessary rules and paperwork in order for them to customize their character the way that they want to.  So my question was, how can I keep all of these wonderful options for players, and simplify the rules so that they are more accessible, but still serve the purpose of having distinct heritages in the game?

Tinkering with Heritage

When I am running a game, I generally have a good sense of the cultures that are in the part of the world that is the setting for the game.  As a gamemaster, I might give the players a list of these, where elves look like the write-up that I used in an earlier post:

Elven Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Elven
• Nocturnal:  low-light vision
• Wilderness Dwellers:  +2 Perception, +2 Knowledge (nature)
• Arcane Magic Users:  +2 Spellcraft

It is similar to the list above, except shorter, and with fewer specific rules (for example, the bonus to Spellcraft is not limited by what you are using the skill for.)  I've standardized it by including only one special trait (low-light vision) and three skill bonuses.  Suppose a player is building an elven fighter.  "I want to play an elf," they say, "but I'm never going to use Spellcraft."  "Can I swap that out for something else?"  I might suggest that there are two ways to approach this problem that don't involve just taking the same heritage and changing what it does.

Option One:  Create a different heritage.  If you look at my creepy elf with darkvision above, you can see the potential for a different heritage there.  These elves live underground in cold caverns, spearing fish like Gollum and scuttling away from torchlight.  Allowing a player to create a new heritage is going to make my game world richer and more interesting.  Sharing the world-building will allow players to be more invested in the game.  If it is something that is a problem with the story I have planned, compromise may be necessary, but more often I find that this is a win/win situation.

Option Two:   Have a blended heritage.  Perhaps there is another heritage on the list that has something this player feels fits their character better.  I would allow the player to take both, and choose one special trait and three skill bonuses from the combined list.  Perhaps one parent was from a family of forest elves, but another was from a nomadic horse-riding culture.  The player could take a +2 on Ride from the second heritage, which suits their fighter character better.  In addition, they now have some additional back-story for their character.

Removing Racial Hatred from the Game

It is true that part of having a heritage means dealing with the ugliness of hatred.  My own upbringing, in the deep South, certainly featured a lot of hatred.  It is a heritage that I have had to outgrow and leave behind as a result.  But fantasy roleplaying games, such as D&D and Pathfinder, often try to spin hatred of another race into positive storytelling.  It is clumsily done, generally identifying one race as "evil" and giving another race bonuses when fighting them.  There are several ways that enmity between heritages can come into a story.  Let's consider whether any of these need support from the rules, and how best to accomplish that.

In one example scenario, two individuals meet who come from different cultures.  Neither is in their homeland.  There is a long-standing enmity between their cultures, due to past historical events, and perhaps even current warfare.  No matter how the individuals react, it is going to be good for the story.  If they struggle with this enmity, then seeing that struggle is good story.  If they try rise above their differences, that is good story.  If they decide to rebel against the hatred of their culture, and work to make peace, that is good story.  What is not good story is if the players feel forced to be hateful to each other because the rules push them in that direction.

In another scenario, a person from a foreign culture has entered a place that is unfamiliar, and possible hostile to them.  Here, the struggle can be shown less as one individual vs. another, and more one individual vs. their environment.  Just as other hostile environments are supported in the rules, so can a hostile culture.  For example, the character might have a penalty on all Charisma based rolls while in this place.  The rules present an obstacle to the player, which they must then figure out how to overcome, resulting in an interesting story element.

In the final scenario, the gamemaster has designed an adventure where the people of one culture are the villains.  This is certainly a common fantasy trope, but I would argue, it is an over-used one.  In reality, identifying the culture of a villainous individual or organization is rarely sufficient to determine their motivations.  And painting an entire culture as evil has disastrous real-world effects.  It is almost always a better idea to create a villainous organization, perhaps operating within a culture, but not the entirety of it.  The rules can support this by not having any fantasy heritage labeled as "evil" or "thieving" or "bestial" or any of the other real world prejudices that people face, based on their heritage.

This blog is funded by my Patreon! All proceeds are donated toward making gaming a more fun and more diverse place! Thank you so much to all my Patrons! https://www.patreon.com/openhouserules

Nature as Identity    

There are a lot of ways to define it, but in this post I'm using the word "identity" to mean the sum of all the things that you were born with that help define who you are.  Players often prefer to play characters who share their own identity (their own gender and sexuality, for example), but may also want to roleplay characters with identities that are different from theirs.  Because identities are things we have in the real world, how a fantasy roleplaying game treats different identities can be very important.  By making a judgment about an identity within the fiction of the game world, or within the rules of the game, we are also judging players who have that identity and potentially making them feel unwelcome at the table.

I'll use gender identity as an example.  In the old days of early Dungeons & Dragons, gender was a limiting factor for adventurers.  If you were female, you had handicaps (in physical strength, for example), as compared to male characters, which were the assumed default.  The rules tell players of the game: "In the fantasy stories we want to tell, gender matters, and women are weaker than men, and are only rarely fighting adventurers."  At some point in time, the story goals changed.  Writers of Dungeons & Dragons wrote rules for "comeliness," for example, that allowed particularly beautiful women to magically charm male characters.  These rules tell players of the game:  "In the fantasy stories we want to tell, gender matters, and women have advantages based on their appearance, and those advantages relate to their sexual power over men."  Regardless of how you think about these rules, which are clearly sexist, you can see the effect that fantasy stories have:  those two genres of fantasy ("male-dominated fantasy world with few women of power" and "fantasy world where women's power is based primarily on their sexuality and attractiveness to men") are very well-represented, and the gender rules were created in order to tell stories that fit neatly into those genres.

In most modern fantasy games, there are no (or very few) rules about gender.  This tends to tell the players of the game:  "In the fantasy stories we want to tell, gender does not matter."  The presence of gendered characters in the source material and art, and how they are presented, is the only guide that the players have as to what sort of stories might be told in the game.  Personally, I like this approach.  But as a writer, I want to be very aware that the absence of rules makes the fiction and detail that I add to characters that much more important.

Certain facets of identity are probably easier to handle in this way than others.  Gender can be made visible through writing and art, as can many aspects of physical appearance, such as skin color.  Other, facets of identity may need direct support in the rules.  For example, how do the rules of a fantasy game support a story about a character with a disability?  These are harder questions that may be best approached with several different solutions that players can choose from.  The important goals for me are:  don't write a set of rules that excludes a real life identity from the story, and don't let the absence of rules make a real life identity invisible.

Nurture as Heritage

Heritage, as I'm using the word in this post, is everything about how a person was raised, what they were taught, who their family is, and the events of their childhood.  I feel that these things are integral to storytelling in a fantasy roleplaying game.  I may not know everything about every character's past, but for a character not to have a past at all makes them appear flat and uninteresting.  So much of storytelling is about human interaction, and so much of human interaction is based on differences and similarities in how we were brought up.  Heritage is rich with possibilities for story.

In my house rules, heritage takes the place of race.  "Human," by contrast, is something that describes your identity.  There are no explicit rules for it.  I don't draw a line between humans over here and elves over there.  But there are rules for heritage, which grants skills and abilities just as race does in Pathfinder.  I try to avoid having heritage affect attributes (such as Strength and Intelligence), for a few reasons.  First, those things seem more tied to identity than heritage (to me).  Second, the practical effect of racial bonuses and penalties to attributes is fairly small in the Pathfinder rules.  Most bonuses total out to an overall +2, which, when you can choose where to place your ability scores, is of little effect other than a small increase in the starting cap.  Class is a much higher predictor of any given attribute than race is, as players will tend to maximize the attributes that they need for their class's abilities.  And by the time a character is level 8, they will likely have been able to compensate for any gain or loss of an attribute due to their starting choices.

Let's look at elves to see what an example heritage might look like:

Elven Heritage Traits

• Languages:  Common and Elven
• Nocturnal:  low-light vision
• Wilderness Dwellers:  +2 Perception, +2 Knowledge (nature)
• Arcane Magic Users:  +2 Spellcraft

Now, my elves may not be the same as your elves, which is fine.  There are a lot of different stories about elves!  But each of these things tells something about how a character with elven heritage grew up.  They probably lived in the wilds, far from cities.  They had to be relatively self-sufficient, but probably had to also trade to get things they needed.  Thus, they know the Common trading tongue, but at home they probably only spoke Elven.  They were not farmers, but rather hunters and gatherers, venturing out at night and resting during the day.  They were taught from an early age to be watchful for predators and recognize poisonous plants.  This potentially harsh life was made easier by the benefit of magic: at least one person in the family was probably an arcane spellcaster, if not more than one.  The words of magic would have been a familiar sound to this character as they grew up.  Even if they did not study magic themselves, they are familiar with how it works.

Imagine this character in a bustling city marketplace, during the day!  Their heritage gives the player an idea of how they might roleplay the character and what they might do in the story.

Magical Birthrights

Because this is a fantasy roleplaying game, we need to look more closely at the circumstances of our character's birth.  What if they are a fairy princess?  What if they are a seventh son of a seventh son?  What if they have bat wings?  What if they are a giant?  All of these things make for great fantasy stories, and so we should think about how to support them with the rules of the game.

Here are the ground rules I use for this broad category, which I've called birthrights.  First, birthrights are not heritage.  If your character were snatched from the cradle as a child and raised by wolves, they would still retain the same birthright, but they would likely have an entirely different heritage.  (Yes, "raised by wolves" is a heritage that I will cover in a future post.)  But second, birthrights are not identity.  It is true that a character born with a birthright cannot change it, but birthrights should be seen as a gift and a responsibility.  One that a character has not earned, despite the name, but one which they must live up to in some way.  Some birthrights might even be the result of a curse (although they are all advantageous for an adventurer.)  Third, birthrights are magical or supernatural in some way.

Not all characters need to have birthrights.  And for those that have them, they may or may not be particularly important to the story.  So the rules for birthrights can be divided up into feats, which can be taken by any character class, but which will have a relatively small effect, and class abilities, which are reserved for certain classes (such as bloodlines for sorcerers), and will have a large effect on what the character is able to do.

Certain birthrights will be suggested as matching up well with certain heritages.  However, a character might have been adopted into a heritage, or have a distinct and unusual birthright for some other reason, so all birthrights should be available regardless of the heritage you choose.  Providing an explanation for these will likely result in some interesting back story for your character!

This blog is funded by my Patreon! All proceeds are donated toward making gaming a more fun and more diverse place! Thank you so much to all my Patrons! https://www.patreon.com/openhouserules

Humans, Humanoids, Halflings, and Half-Orcs    

It is not a secret that Dungeons & Dragons has a race problem.  Going back to its roots in Tolkein's Middle Earth, D&D has kept a few concepts that many fantasy writers believe are essential building blocks of fantasy stories:

• Humans are people that, in most ways, are identical to human beings in our world, in diversity of appearance and culture.
• There exist some races, such as elves, that are based on myths and legends rather than real world history.  Each differs from humanity in substantive ways:  they look different, they tend to act differently, they have a different culture and language, and they may have different physiology and/or magical abilities.  For almost every feature they possess, as a race, they will be slightly superior to humanity.  In the areas where they have lesser abilities, they are often described in idealized ways, a "slim, but delicate physique," for example.
• There exist some races, such as orcs, that are subhuman in nature.  They differ substantially from humanity and from the other mythological races.  In appearance and culture, they are lesser.  In the areas where they have greater abilities, they are often dehumanized, with "bestial strength" and "animal cunning."  In general, they are to be considered the enemies of the players and the villains of the story.
• There are exceptions to these rules, elves who are evil and dwell underground, orcs who are good and civilized, but what makes these characters interesting to the story is that they are exceptions.  They are defined in contrast to the majority of their people, and are not like them.

Almost every iteration of fantasy roleplaying game addresses, in some way, this concept of race in fantasy.  Some excuse it, some attempt to improve upon it, some embrace it.  And there is no "right" approach.  One of my favorite fantasy roleplaying games, Earthdawn, has the idea that every standard fantasy race is interesting and should have a deep and rich culture for the players to work with.  It embraces the tropes created by fantasy stories, but starts from the position that all of the "Name-giver" races share the same qualities that we think of in the real world, when we think of humanity and all its potential.

That said, it is not enough.  As much as I love Earthdawn, it doesn't do what I want, in terms of accessibility.  I want a roleplaying game that does not need to make excuses or compromises, or keep the negative tropes regarding race in the game, simply on the basis of tradition.

Telling a Good Story and Creating Rules that Support It

What are the things that we want from a system of rules that describe the circumstances of a person's birth and parentage?  Birth is an important part of character development.  It's something that is immutable, but for many characters, it is something that they will rebel against or embrace.  That decision will be core to who they are and what story they will follow.  So the first thing that birth does, in a fantasy game, is set your character's baseline.  This is where you start out, which begs the question: where will you go from here?

Birth and parentage can also be important in world building.  Having diverse cultures in a fantasy world makes it feel more realistic.  It allows for new story elements when the players travel to a distant land.  It provides plot ideas for conflicts between cultures, and classes within those cultures.

Finally, birth is another way for the player characters to distinguish themselves.  Dungeons & Dragons, and most other fantasy roleplaying games, are ensemble stories.  There is no single hero and a few minor supporting roles.  Instead, there is a "party" of equals, telling a story together.  Anything that allows characters to be different from each other is useful, in story terms.

However, given these story goals, the word "race" appears to be a poor term.  "Race," as we use it outside of fantasy games, is a very limited concept created as a result of the relatively recent, real world history of colonization and slavery.  Identity is much bigger than race.  All of the story goals above could be equally served by talking about gender, about sexuality, about ability, about class, about nationality, about religion, about tribalism, and about cultural heritage.  In fact, since this is a fantasy world, we could also talk about magical abilities and traditions, or about people who can fly, or see in the dark, or live for a thousand years.

In my house rules, the word "race," defined as broadly as it is in fantasy games, has to go.  So do words that draw from the history of racism, such as "humanoid" and "half-breed" and "mongrel."  In their place, I'd like to talk in my next post about some characteristics of characters that can help us tell good stories:  nature and nurture.


This blog is funded by my Patreon! All proceeds are donated toward making gaming a more fun and more diverse place! Thank you so much to all my Patrons! https://www.patreon.com/openhouserules