Common Races

The following races have large populations, and can be found throughout the Commonwealth. Most of these races take pride in belonging to one or both of the following groups:

  • The "founding races," the races that founded the Commonwealth: that is, Humans, Gnolls, and Halflings.
  • The "pillar races," the major racial and cultural groups that dominate the Commonwealth today: that is, Drakes, (Ash) Elves, Gnolls, Humans, and Kobolds.

Drakes

  • Though it was long known that the Drakes where a created people, it was only a few hundred years ago, as power devolved to the people in the Dragonshire and as their alliance with the Commonwealth drew closer, that their true origin was revealed.

  • More than a century before the Old Charter, after Karrach claimed a swath of the Empire of Man, it had become apparent to him that he could not govern such a large territory on his own.

    • He had called other dragons to him, to share the rule of his kingdom as his lords and vassals, but dragons, though long-lived and mighty, where also few, and had little shared culture or history before his kingdom. Karrach need a people.

  • Karrach, aided by the dragons who answered his call, began a search for a powerful spirit willing to provide him a great boon — for a great price.

    • Ultimately, a spirit contacted him; it variably identified itself as the Bulrush God, the Rainstorm Shepherd and the Osprey’s Father, and it dwelt within the southern reaches of the Dragonshire.
    • The spirit’s actual basin remains unknown, as does the extent of its powers; they are certainly great, given what it did.
    • It gave Karrach and his followers instructions for creating holy sites — only the precious first few of which it has actually blessed — and a ritual they could perform there. The ritual would convert a dragon’s egg into a drake’s egg — drakes being creatures of dragon’s blood and kind, but smaller, less mighty and far more fertile.
    • The price the Bulrush God demanded was perhaps surprisingly cheap for what it did: it demanded ownership of a stretch of lowland marsh on the southern coast of the Dragonshire, fully 20 kilometers along the coast and extending 7 kilometers inland, and a lordly title.
    • This represented an enormous risk for Karrach, as he knew of no way to bind the spirit, which was unknown to him.

  • The Bulrush God is still worshiped in the Dragonshire.

    • The Bulrush God is enigmatic; very little is known about it, neither its actual basin nor the true extent of its powers nor its ultimate goals.
    • The Bulrush God answers very few supplicants; it is not known what draws it. No bind for it is known — unsurprisingly, for a spirit of its power.
    • Conversely, the Bulrush God interferes little in the affairs of mortals and lesser spirits. Particularly, it has never used its lordly title, and it has not allowed settlement of the land it claims, and so has no subjects. (Neither has it forbidden the land to hunters or travelers, leading many to wonder what its actual intent with it was.)

  • Drakes frequently trace their lineages back to their Dragon forebears.

    • Each egg needed to be live; thus, all Drakes have at least two dragon ancestors, one male and one female.
    • The ritual to transform an egg required a price of each participant dragon; it was not undertaken lightly.
    • Though Drakes can nominally be broken into clans based on their lineage, their family trees where often rendered complex by feudal politics; for some, their clan and heritage are important parts of who they are; other drakes care little — or may not even know their ancestry at all.
    • Many Drake clans (or smaller noble families) claim noble titles and land-holdings — at least in principle.

  • In the early days of the Dragonshire, when they were a feudal territory (and most of the feudal lords were dragons), Drakes tended to take positions of authority, above Humans but below Dragons.

  • As political reforms took place, the role of Drakes, Dragons and Human leaders changed. The modern Dragonshire is a Commonwealth province, and power has been devolved from the hereditary nobility (of Drakes and Dragons) to civil Councils.

  • Still, Drakes largely think of themselves as being of “noble blood”, and many of them still hold hereditary titles – which may or may not be of practical significance.

  • Even though power in the Dragonshire has been devolved to civil councils, having the right lineage still helps: Drakes commonly hold positions of privilege and authority in the Dragonshire.

  • Because their culture is similar to that of the feudal Kingdoms of Man, Drakes find it fairly easy to interact politically with that neighboring state.

  • Drakes commonly serve in units of the Commonwealth Military that draw from the citizenry of the Dragonshire

  • Somewhat like Gnolls, Drakes also commonly take up jobs where their immense strength is an asset. However, because Drakes are much more comfortable in large cities, this tends to mean “blacksmithing” more often than it means “farm work”.

  • Drakes tend to be good-natured and sociable at best, but also brash, proud and stubborn at worst.

  • Appearance: Drakes are humanoid in gross layout, but they have the head, long tail, powerful limbs, tough scales and sharp claws of Dragons.

Chandra [Drake, Social General, our host]: Well, since we're assembled at my manor, I suppose it's only fair we discuss my kind first.

Trac [Commonwealth soldier, Gnoll]: So long as the drinks keep coming.

River: What should we discuss? Obviously, military prowess would put a shine on your scales.

Chandra: Swordsmanship, too. But We were made for it. At least our court and cities we made ourselves. And our membership in the commonwealth has only made us better.

Drake Vitals

  • Old Age: 100 Years

  • Average Height: 2.4m

  • Average Weight: 110kg

  • Diet: Omnivore (preferential carnivore)

  • DUR 40, STR 40

  • +5 SAV, +5 SOM, +10 WIL

  • Movement: Foot 4/12

  • Senses: Normal, Infra-Red

  • Size: Medium, Great Stature

  • Tags: Natural, Humanoid, Dragon-Kin, Drake

  • Language Group: DDK, HHED

  • Scales: +2 Armor

Optional Trait: Chroma

Though Drakes come in vibrant colors and hues, most have not inherited the particular magical natures of Dragons; you, however, have.

  • Effect: the character gains Resistance: [Tag] (DV÷2, +WIL to checks to resist) for one of the following tags:
    • Chemical
    • Cold
    • Disease
    • Electricity
    • Fire.

Optional Trait: Dragon’s Flight

Dragons have a wide variety of modes of motion, and you have inherited one of them.

  • Effect: The character gains one of the following movement modes:
    • Swim 3/15
    • Burrow 2/6
    • Fly 3/15/45

Optional Power: Breath Weapon

You have inherited the ability to breathe fire — or some other dangerous substance.

  • Effect: You gain one of the following effects, depending on the power’s type:
    • Chemical: you can spit a toxic spray. You gain the following attack:
      • Indicate-Only Attack, Splash 1D10 ÷ 3 m. Range 10m short / 20m long.
      • Tags: Natural, Chemical
      • Covered opponents suffer 1D10 ÷ 2 DV a turn; the chemical can be washed off with water (a standard action requiring a source of water).
    • Cold: you can hurl an icy spear. You gain the following attack:
      • Indicate-Only Attack, 1D10+2+DB DV, AP -4.
      • Tags: Natural, Cold, Ice
    • Disease: You can launch a small bundle of bone-like spines infected with a deadly plague. You gain the following attack:
      • Indicate-Only Attack, 1D10 ÷ 2 DV, AP -3;
      • Tags: Natural, Disease.
      • If you deal DV, then your target is exposed to the disease.
    • Electricity: you can deliver powerful electric shocks. Your unarmed attacks (and natural weapons, should you have any) deal an additional 1D10 damage and gain the Electric tag.
    • Fire: you can breath fire. You gain the following attack:
      • Indicate-Only Attack, 1D10+DB DV, AP -, Blast.
      • Tags: Natural, Fire.
  • Special: This power has a Tag to represent the type of breath-weapon you have. If you took the Chroma trait, then the tag is the one you chose for your resistance; otherwise, the tag is Fire.

Elves

  • Elves are a common people throughout the Emerald Plains.

  • Elves are humanoid in gross layout, although they have finer features (including long, pointed ears).

    • Elves have excellent hearing and vision.
    • Notably, elves are descended from arboreal creatures, and retain prehensile feet. These are larger than human feet, owing to being reinforced with extra tendons, bones and musculature; thanks to this reinforcement, Elves can run on open ground as well as humans.
    • Elves also have exotic skin pigmentations, which help them to blend in to natural environments.

  • There are three major Elven ethnic groups: Wood Elves, Shade Elves and Ash Elves.

  • Wood Elves are a tribal culture, dispersed throughout the northwestern portion of the Emerald Plane.

    • Wood Elves do not have a large, overarching nation; their tribes are usually more similar to nearby tribes of other races than to distant Wood Elves.
    • The Commonwealth’s interactions with wood elves have, for the most part, been peaceful; by the present day, the majority of the wood elf tribes have signed the Commonwealth Charter (and now the Commonwealth Compact).
    • However, most wood elf communities continue to practice traditional, tribal ways of life; they live within the vast interior swaths of the Emerald Plane, having little contact with outsiders, even though they are technically Commonwealth citizens.
    • Because of this, wood elves are rarely seen outside of their tribal communities.
    • Wood Elves typically live in small settlements, with a few planted fields around them. The able-bodied typically herd or hunt, while the very young, the very old and the infirm live in their settlements.
    • Wood Elves have a complex skin pattern, a little like an ocelot. Their bellies, underarms and inner thighs are a dull white, while their backs, arms and legs are a dark green. Running through this is a complex pattern of black spots and folding and curving lines. Their hair is often dark green or black; rarely, it is gold or orange.

  • Shade Elves are plains raiders hailing from the open plains on the southwest of the Emerald Plane.

    • Before the arrival of the Commonwealth, they preyed on the peoples and cultures near them, forcing some to pay tribute and raiding the others without mercy.
    • As the Commonwealth spread West and entered the Shade Elves’ territory, some of the tribes they had preyed upon allied with those Commonwealth settlers.
    • The Commonwealth built a string of walled cities and fortified keeps on the path to the sea; after a disastrous siege led to a losing war, the Shade Elves’ territory was severely restricted.
    • This left the Shade Elves vulnerable to the Leapers, a subterranean race that overwhelmed their largest settlements and forced the Shade Elves to pay them tribute.
    • The Leapers later forced the Shade Elves to cooperate with their other tributaries, the Ratfolk of the Warren Isles; the resulting union came to be called the Shaded Sea Peoples, named for the sea that separated the Warren Isles from the Shade Elves’ territory on the southwest of the continent.
    • Shade Elves are still raiders, striking at settlements on the edge of the Commonwealth and on the northwest of the Raptor’s Plane.
    • They also participate in piracy, carried by Ratfolk ships and sailors.
    • As members of the Shaded Sea Peoples, they are one of the Emerald Plane’s great powers, and an enemy of the Commonwealth. They have been in conflict with the Commonwealth off-and-on for centuries.
    • Shade Elves live in small settlements dug into the bases of hills and the sides of mesas and river-valleys. Their settlements are usually fortified and walled, both to help fending of rebellions by their tributaries and predation at the hands of other Shade Elf clans.
    • Shade Elven skin is striped, a little like a tiger or zebra. The stripes alternate between a dark black and a dull grey. Shade Elven hair is similarly black and grey.

  • Ash Elves are urban, thoughtful and philosophical people; they are the descendants of Shade and Ash Elves who settled in the Haven Isles.

    • Many trace the origins of the Ash Elves to the siege of Islandholme by the Shade Elves in CY 447 and its aftermath, as Shade Elves taken hostage in the siege where slowly ingtegrated into the Commonwealth and interbred with Wood Elves.
    • Ash Elven settlements have also absorbed many refugees from the tumult and cruelty of Shade Elven culture, and have served as a familiar home for Wood Elves wishing to join a more urban culture.
    • Ash Elven culture was formed in the cities of the Haven Isles, influenced by the countless other traditions brought there by settlers from the rest of the Commonwealth.
    • Ash Elves are a very thoughtful people, and they are avid consumers of literature, art, law, philosophy, and other forms of scholarship. They also tend to be highly eclectic in the scholarship they consume, drawing for the intellectual traditions of races and cultures throughout the commonwealth.
    • Ash Elven culture is disciplined, mindful and meditative; they are often reserved, stoic in the face of danger, but vibrant and joyous in time of celebration.
    • Ash Elves tend to prefer urban environs, and can be found throughout the Commonwealth’s large cities.
    • Ash Elves have also built cities of their own; they tend to build large underground settlements, somewhat like those constructed by Dwarves and Kobolds.
    • Ash Elven culture is open, egalitarian and libertine; guests are welcome and well-treated, and they tend to get along well with their neighbors — especially dwarves and kobolds.
    • They are particularly known for the joyous celebrations that mark their holidays, in which their cities are brightly decorated and travelers and neighbors are welcome.
    • Ash Elves tend to be strong advocates for the Commonwealth’s continued peaceful expansion.
    • Ash Elven skin is mostly the color of ash, as the name implies; they have a few stripes along their backs, the tops of their arms, and the outside of their legs. The stripes are thing, and alternate between white and black. Their hair is often black, ash grey, pale white or ember orange.

Elven Vitals

  • Old Age: 160 Years

  • Average Height: 180cm

  • Average Weight: 50kg

  • Diet: Omnivore

  • DUR 25, STR 25

  • +5 COO +5 WIL +10 INT

  • Movement: Foot 5 / 15

  • Senses: Normal, Low-Light

  • Size: Medium

  • Tags: Natural, Humanoid, Elf

  • Language Group: HHED

  • Keen Senses: Elves receive +20 to visual Perception checks, and +10 to auditory perception checks.

  • Prehensile Feet: Elves have prehensile feet. This allows them to grip and manipulate objects with their feet as adroitly as they do with their hands. This is of particular use while climbing and grappling, applying a +20 bonus to those tests. It's also particularly useful when riding, and it makes them very difficult to dismount.

    • Elves treat their feet as non-dominant limbs, so they need to purchase the Ambidextrous trait at least once to wield weapons with them without taking a penalty.

  • Natural Camouflage: Elves have complex skin patterns, which serve as camouflage. These patterns provide a +10 benefit to Stealth checks; this benefit is lost if their skin is covered, and is not cumulative with worn camouflage.

Gnolls

Gnolls are one of the most numerous races on the Emerald Plane; much like Humans and Elves, they have long lived throughout the Emerald Plane. Almost as sociable as humans and incredibly strong, Gnollish strength (and endurance) was the backbone of the early Commonwealth.

Gnolls are roughly humanoid in gross layout, but they have hyena-like features: their head and feet are much like a hyena's; they are covered in short, ochre fur much like a hyena's; and they have a hyena's short tail. Gnolls are also much larger and stronger than most other races — Drakes are perhaps the only common race that can exceed them. Notably, Gnolls display less sex dimorphism than most other races do; as a result, Gnollish cultures tend to place less importance on an individual's sex.

Gnolls where one of the three races that cooperated under the auspices of the Old Charter to create the growing, prosperous culture of towns, manors and cities that would eventually become the Commonwealth. When Gnollish refugees where granted a manor's charter by the Lord of a Human city, a new and unique culture was created, at least as similar to the urban Human culture that sheltered them as to any prior Gnollish culture; this Gnollish culture was one of the ones that was spread west as the Commonwealth expanded, and that is still one of the Commonwealth's most common and distinctive cultures today.

Commonwealth Gnolls tend to be somewhat rural; they are common in the small villages and towns of the Commonwealth, but rare in its cities. Though the idea of a Gnollish farmer may seem odd to some, they are in fact well-suited to it; their great strength and endurance is invaluable for farming work, and the flexibility of their diet can be invaluable in lean years. (Though Gnolls are meat-eaters, they have discovered a number of useful recipes involving grains that provide them at least some nourishment, which they can use to greatly stretch meat reserves.)

Though Gnolls may be somewhat rustic by Commonwealth standards, their communities nevertheless tend to be open and welcoming; their ancestor's flight from persecution at the hands of their cousins, and their salvation at the hands of people strange and alien to them — Humans — is very much alive in Gnollish culture, and strongly informs their traditions and values to this day.

Gnolls put quite a lot of effort into getting along with members of other communities, and will go out of their way to make other races feel comfortable around them. Many Gnollish communities have two separate set of customs, one for when members of other races are around, and one for when they're not. For example, Gnolls are carrion-eaters, and many other races may be revolted by some of the things that Gnolls may eat; for this reason, Gnollish communities often have a recipe of "guest-food," which both they and their guests can eat. Gnolls are also aware of how savage and intimidating they can appear to be, so many of them put quite a lot of effort into developing refined personal styles: fine clothing, subtle jewelry, neat cuts of hair and mane, and died fur are all common. Gnolls also commonly use veils to hide their predator's jaws from those who they do not with to frighten or intimidate.

Not every Commonwealth Gnoll stays in the small town where they are born. Many Gnollish families have a long military tradition, and Gnolls make up almost two-thirds of the Commonwealth military's ranks.

Since the first Gnollish manors were settled besides Halfling neighbors, the two races have cooperated closely; Gnolls have long found employment with Halfling trade-caravans as guards. To this day, many Halfling communities are located next to Gnollish ones, and clans of Halflings and Gnolls may have traditions of cooperation that go back centuries. Gnolls that travel with Halfling caravans are often more urbane than their cousins; they are also more likely to go to great lengths to perfect a personal style that is just intimidating enough to scare off the wrong sort, without disturbing the paying customers as well!

There are also a number of Gnollish tribal communities in the territory to the west of the Worldspine Mountains. Notably, much like their symbiosis with Humans and Halflings in the east, several Gnollish tribes allied with Herder communities in the west, where the frail Herders greatly valued them for their physical strength; this alliance became a force to be reckoned with in the west, and was the major opponent to the Shade Elves prior to the coming of the Commonwealth.

There is also a unique ethnic group of Gnolls hailing from stretch of snowy northland that lies to the east of the Worldspine mountains. White-furred and adapted to the cold, these Gnolls have long lived on the snowy terrain above and around the subterranean holds of Dwarves, with whom they have long coexisted amicably; Snow Gnolls are expert hunters and herders, and they provide Dwarven holds with an invaluable source of meat. Though few in numbers, the combination of these stealthy hunters scattered throughout the northern forests with the extreme resilience of Dwarven holds handily prevented the conquest of the North by the Empire of Man, and later by the Kingdoms of Men.

Gnollish Vitals

  • Old Age: 50 Years

  • Average Height: 2.2m

  • Average Weight: 80kg

  • Diet: Obligate Carnivore (scavenger)

  • Gnolls are one of the three founding races of the Commonwealth, and prosper anywhere great strength and endurance are valuable.

  • DUR 35, STR 35

  • +5 COG, +5 INT, +5 SAV, +5 SOM

  • Movement: Foot 5 / 15

  • Senses: Normal, Low-Light, Scent

  • Size: Medium, Great Stature

  • Tags: Natural, Humanoid, Gnoll

  • Language Group: GR

  • Sturdy: Gnolls are highly resistant to pain and injury. Gnolls can Negate one Wound.

  • Powerful Jaws: Gnolls have fierce teeth and powerful jaws. They have the following natural weapon:

    • Bite: Unarmed Attack, 1D10+4+DB DV, AP 1.
    • Tags: Natural, Bone-Crushing, Grab

  • Disease-Resistant: Gnolls have an incredible resistance to many diseases. They have Resistance: Disease (+30 to checks to resist)

Optional Neutral Trait: Cold-Adapted

Your ancestors have long dwelled in the snowy north, and you are well adapted to the cold — although you suffer somewhat in warmer lands.

  • You gain Resistance: Cold and Vulnerability: Heat.

Humans

  • Social, dextrous and intelligent, Humans where the first race to build cities, and the first to build great nations.
  • Humans are also known for the great endurance; while many other races' energy ebbs and flows, humans can maintain a steady walking pace over great distances. They are also fare more resistant to shock than many other races are.
  • Even today, Humans are widely renowned for their manual dexterity, for their society-building social instincts and their problem-solving abilities.
  • One of the three founding races (besides Gnolls and Halflings), Humans are widely regarded as the “social problem-solvers” who helped bind together all the widely different communities that came together to form the early Commonwealth.
  • Humans are frequently academics, professionals, scholars, lawyers and politicians.
  • Humans are common in the small towns of Heartland and Dragonshire, and are common in cities everywhere. And, of course, are the principle race of the Kingdoms of Man.

Human Vitals

One of the Commonwealth's three Founding Races. Intelligent, dextrous and social, humans are the engineers of the Commonwealth–building everything from wagons to societies.

  • Old Age: 60 years

  • Average Height: 1.7m

  • Average Weight: 60kg

  • Diet: Omnivore

  • DUR 30, STR 30

  • +5 COG, +5 COO, +10 SAV

  • Movement: Foot 4 / 12

  • Senses: Normal

  • Size: Medium

  • Tags: Natural, Humanoid, Human

  • Language Group: HHED

  • Social Animals: Humans gain the Social Animal trait.

  • Inexhaustible: Humans gain +WIL to Feat of Endurance checks.

Kobolds

  • Kobolds are a relatively new addition to the Commonwealth; most Kobold communities trace their origins to a mass exodus from the Kingdom of Man roughly 200 years ago.

  • Kobolds are sociable, creative, and very quick.

  • Kobold culture is very family- and community-oriented

  • Extended families tend to live together in large homes, and several families will cluster together to form a block.

  • Kobolds communities tend to have small personal spaces and large public spaces; Kobolds tend to take enormous pride the quality of their public spaces, which will commonly be excellently maintained, and will feature impressive monuments or natural landscapes.

  • Kobolds have a short lifespan, but they also tend to have large families; because of this, they have grown explosively

    • even though they were absorbed only recently, many of the largest Commonwealth city-states are underground Kobold metropolises.

  • They tend to live near Dwarves and Ash Elves, both of which are very long-lived. This can create some complex relationships: it is not uncommon for one Dwarf or Elf to closely befriend several generations of one Kobold family in succession, watching each generation come into adulthood, have children and pass away – an arrangement that can be very bittersweet for the Dwarf or Ash Elf involved.

  • Kobold culture strongly encourages industry, so Kobold communities tend to be highly productive.

  • They look like tiny, slender, bipedal dragons. Somewhat like Drakes, their scales can take on a range of colors, and often metallic hues; however, unlike Drakes, this rarely has any effect on the Kobold in question.

    • Like Drakes and Dragons, and unlike other reptiles, Kobolds are warm-blooded.
    • Kobolds aren’t mammals; they don’t have mammary glands, and they have internal genitalia. Because of this, Kobolds can have very different ideas about what constitutes “appropriate attire”.

Kobold Vitals

Clever, quick, industrious and sociable, Kobolds make up the majority of the underground cities.

  • Old Age: 40 Years

  • Average Height: 1m

  • Average Weight: 25kg

  • Diet: Omnivore (preferential carnivore)

  • DUR 25, STR 20

  • +5 INT, +10 COO, +5 SAV

  • Movement: Foot 5 / 15

  • Senses: Normal, Infrared

  • Size: Small

  • Tags: Natural, Humanoid, Dragon-Kin, Kobold

  • Language Group: DDK

  • Scales: Kobolds have +1 Armor

Optional Trait: Kroma

Though the blood of Dragons is thin in Kobolds, it does sometimes manifest itself.

  • Effect: the character gains Resistance: [Tag] (DV÷2, +WIL to checks to resist) to one of the following tags:
    • Chemical
    • Cold
    • Disease
    • Electricity
    • Fire

Optional Trait: Dragon’s Bite

Though you don’t possess a Dragon’s breath, you have inherited (some of) their natural weapons, and they can be infused with a Dragon’s fire — or some other elemental type.

  • Effect: The character gain the following natural weapons:
    • Bite:
      • Unarmed Attack, 1D10+2+DB DV, AP -
      • Tags: Natural, your type
    • Claws:
      • Unarmed Attack, 1D10+DB DV, AP -2
      • Tags: Natural, your yype
  • Special: Your natural weapons have a type.
    • If you have the Chroma trait, then your type is the type you chose for Chroma;
    • if you don’t, your type is Fire.
  • You gain an additional effect, based on your Type:
    • Chemical: your claws and bite are toxic. Any creature you hit with either attack is covered, and thereafter takes 2 DV a turn. Water can wash the corrosive off (requiring a source of water and a Standard Action).
    • Cold: your natural attack gains -2 AP, and you can drain heat from anything you hold, bite into or breath on.
    • Disease: your claws, bite and saliva carry the following disease:
    • Electricity: your claws and bite deliver powerful shocks. Anyone you strike or bite must make a DUR+WIL check or be stunned for 5 turns.
    • Fire: your claws or bite are incredibly hot. Your attack does +3 DB, and you can set flammable objects on fire.

Shifters

  • Shifters live in communities in the tribal territories; they are rare elsewhere.

  • Most shifter communities exist in tribal territories. Though most Shifter communities signed the Commonwealth Charter long ago, in practice, they have established few entanglements with outside communities.

  • Though not exactly insular, because they do not generally produce goods for export, they are not generally able to import goods from other communities, and so they tend to have little contact with other races.

  • Notably, Shifter communities tend to be very conservative. They are wary of outsiders, and are happy to live their lives much as they always have, and be left alone.

  • Small numbers of Shifters filter out of the tribal communities, seeking the exotic experiences the rest of the Commonwealth has to offer.

  • While there are a few Shifter manors, and some cities host notable Shifter populations, Shifters who leave the tribal territories often find themselves alone in their community, the only shifter in the town or village where they settle. Because of this, shifters outside the tribal territories tend to adopt the culture of the community they settle in.

    • Many shifters are not particularly social, so this often does not bother them as much as it might bother members of other species.

  • Shifters often find work that suits their personal inclinations, among the communities that they settle in; “their own inclination” is often affected by the tendencies of their hybrid form.

  • Appearance: In humanoid form, shifters somewhat resemble elves and humans. An individual shifter will often display traits appropriate to their hybrid form.

Shifter Vitals

Half elf, half human, half wild, Shifters can shift between humanoid and hybrid forms.

  • Old Age: 90 Years

  • Average Height: 1.8m

  • Average Weight: 50kg

  • Diet: Omnivore

  • DUR 30, STR 30

  • +5 COO, +5 INT, +5 SOM

  • Movement: Foot 4 / 12

  • Senses: Normal, Low-Light

  • Size: Medium

  • Tags: Supernatural, Humanoid, Human, Elf, Shape-Shifter, Shifter

  • Language Group: HHED (humanoid form); GR (hybrid form)

  • Hybrid: You have two forms: Humanoid and Hybrid.

    • The specific details of each form are fixed. That is, your Humanoid form, for example, looks the same every time you shift to it; you can't determine what it looks like each time you shift. You can shift between forms at will; changing forms is a Standard Action.
      • In Humanoid form, you have a mixture of Human and (Wood) Elvish features.
      • In Hybrid from, you are roughly humanoid, but with the features of an animal.
    • When in hybrid form, you gain two of the following benefits (chosen when you create your character):
      • Claws: you have claws that do 2d10 DV, at -2 AP.
      • Teeth: You have a predator’s jaw, which allows you to bite foes. The bite does 1d10+2 DV at -2 AP. When you bite someone, if you score an Excellent Success, you may choose to latch on; this normally works like grappling the target.
      • Hearing: You have superb hearing, gaining +20 on auditory Perception checks.
      • Movement: you gain one of the following movement modes (in addition to your other movement modes):
        • Burrow 1/3
        • Climb 3/9
        • Flight 3/9/36
        • Glide 4/12/48
        • Hop 4/12
        • Swim 3/9
      • Scent: you have a superb sense of smell; you gain the Scent sense.
      • Environment Adaptation: choose a hostile environment; you gain an adaptation that allows you to survive this environment. For example, you might choose to survive in extreme cold, and thus gain a blubber layer.
      • Motion-Sensitivity: your vision becomes very sensitive to motion. You gain +10 to Perception tests made against moving targets.
      • Sprinter: choose one movement mode and increase it by +1/+3 (for example, Walking 4/12 would become Walking 5/15).
      • Thick Hide: You gain +1 armor.

  • Fast-Healing: you have Fast Healing 1

Optional Trait: Animal Form.

Some shifters, in addition to their hybrid form, can entirely assume the form of an animal.

  • Effect: you can assume the form of an animal.
    • Your animal form resembles a normal member of the animal that your hybrid form was based on.
    • Your animal form can’t be too large (as large as an elephant, larger than size Large) or too small (as small as a cricket, smaller than size Small).

Optional Trait: Enhanced Hybrid Form

  • Effect: you can choose two more benefits for your Hybrid Form.