Midgard: Interesting Racial Features
The world of Midgard contains quite a few more races and sub-races, on top of the typical D&D ones. With the addition of Dhampir, Centaurs, Ravenfolk, Ratfolk, Reaver Dwarves, River Elves, Diabolic Gnomes... the distinction between individual races becomes less and less clear. Kobold Press made sure to add interesting features and abilities to each new race, but some races still feel more like "human+" rather than having their own unique identity. Additionally, modern D&D has placed all race variations into ability score modifiers and sometimes a small race feature, forcing all races to have more or less the same "look and feel". This post will list a few of my ideas for creating more unique racial options for players, though I expect many of these changes to be quite unbalanced.
First off, the full list of races and sub-races from D&D 5e and Midgard:
Note: need to finish list
Idea #1: Powerful Racial Features
This solution dates back to the beginning of D&D and even Tolkien himself. Tolkien and other fantasy authors have assigned certain characteristics to each race, including some useful unique abilities. Dwarves are master stoneworkers and smiths, perhaps unnaturally knowledgeable about any crafted stone or metal that he comes across. Elves often vary greatly, but usually have abilities pertaining to their forested homelands and their superhuman senses. Halflings have a disarming charisma about them, and can start up a conversation with almost anyone.
This solution was used in OD&D, jointly with the next one, but was dropped in later editions, likely for balance reasons. Midgard brings back some of these with its abilities for Dhampir and Minotaurs, and hints at further expansion for races with racial magic schools (though that may be more fitting within the next section).
Pros:
Cons:
Aasimar: Within Midgard, this race of half-angel, half-human beings live within a region named Ishardia, on the far side of the Mharoti Empire. Combining typical fiction of Aasimar with Midgard lore might yield the following. Once per day, an Aasimar may use your angelic songs to cast either Command or Charm Person upon a humanoid target. This ability also refreshes upon the first meeting with any divine being (angels, avatars, or gods).
This solution can create some very interesting situations, but requires a large amount of effort to come up with unique, useful, and balanced abilities for each race.
Idea #2: Race-Limited Character Options
Another solution would be to limit a character's options based upon race. This was the case in older editions of D&D, where one might play as a Dwarf or Half-Elf and that's it. The race was also the class, Dwarves having a certain set of abilities that differed from Half-Elves, and so on. This has been removed/expanded upon repeatedly, giving us the options we have today. But placing some limits on characters by race might create more meaningful choice between them.
Pros:
Centaurs within Midgard are a nomadic and violent people. They travel in tribes, and are often looked upon as nothing more than bandits and raiders. They might be limited to a set of classes such as: Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue.
Example 2:
Dwarves in Midgard are master craftsmen, and have ancient secrets within their clans. They alone have access to the schools of Ring Magic and Rune Magic, giving more options to spellcasters within their ranks.
This solution makes race a very impactful choice to each character (as it should be). For most, but not all, characters, limiting magic/class/sub-class options makes sense thematically. A character that was born and raised within the society of its race should follow the standards of its race, for the most part. A typical elf should act like a typical elf. But many player characters are not typical elves. PCs come in all forms and flavors, and often have strange and unique backgrounds that would cause the character to have no reason to follow its people's standards and traditions. If the PC is a centaur that was abandoned and raised by dragonborn magic users, why can't he be a sorcerer? Or a bard?
On the other hand, one can "limit" character options by introducing new options and give those only to certain races, such as the new schools of magic in Midgard. For many of the new races, a new school of magic is available to that race as well. An extreme version of this is to create an entire class available to only certain races, but this would require a great deal of effort and would likely skew gameplay (because why play that race if you're not going to play with their cool new class).
Idea #3: Meaningful Stat Changes
The problem with the racial effects listed in 5e aren't that they are simply attribute changes, it's that the changes can often be completely meaningless. An average half-orc and gnome have the same attribute score in Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma. This leads to these very different races feeling extremely similar. But what if races received major statistic bonuses and drawbacks that favored a certain style of play?
Pros:
Cons:
Example 1:
Gnomes in 5e receive +2 INT and +1 CON, making them favor Wizards and INT-based characters (on another note, D&D needs more uses for Intelligence, as it feels underwhelming compared to other attributes). Instead, they could receive a step down on their hit die (1d12->1d10->1d8->1d6->1d4), but gain innate spellcasting of one cantrip at will and one level-1 spell once per day.
Example 2:
Dust Goblins currently do not have defined statistics as a player race, but are listed in the Tome of Beasts. They are dexterous and hardy, but lack in strength, wisdom, and charisma. While this large amount of stat variance might be enough, a more interesting racial change might be gaining advantage on all CHA checks with/saves against Aberrations and immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions, but can never have an INT higher than 10, and take -2 to WIS or -2 to STR.
Note: the changes to the Dust Goblin might be a little extreme, as they could limit possible character options too much and only allow one or two archetypes within that race. This was made to mirror the stat block for Dust Goblins as they are printed.
These are just a few ways meaningful stat changes could be made. This could apply to initiative, AC, HP, damage, skill modifiers, or any other number on the character sheet. Balance can become quite difficult, but this solution has quite a few pros to it.
Summary:
Each method has its own benefits and issues. I believe to make a truly interesting arrangement of racial options for your players, a combination of the solutions above and possibly others would be the best situation. This article is meant to be a sort of brainstorming session to get you to think about the possible directions races in tabletop games can be taken. I will be implementing my own chart of racial modifications in my currently ongoing games to see what works and what doesn't.
First off, the full list of races and sub-races from D&D 5e and Midgard:
Note: need to finish list
- Aasimar
- Bearfolk
- Centaur
- Darakhul
- Dust Goblin
- Dwarf
- Hill
- Mountain
- Elf
- Dark (Drow)
- High
- Wood
- Gnoll
- Halfling
- Lightfoot
- Stout
- Winterfolk
- Human
- Variant rule for feat
- Dragonborn
- Variants of Breath Weapon only
- Gearforged
- Gnome
- Forest
- Rock
- Half-Elf (Midgard: Elfmarked)
- Half-Orc
- Kobold
- Minotaur
- Ravenfolk
- Shadow Fey
- Tiefling (Midgard: Demonmarked)
- Trollkin
Idea #1: Powerful Racial Features
This solution dates back to the beginning of D&D and even Tolkien himself. Tolkien and other fantasy authors have assigned certain characteristics to each race, including some useful unique abilities. Dwarves are master stoneworkers and smiths, perhaps unnaturally knowledgeable about any crafted stone or metal that he comes across. Elves often vary greatly, but usually have abilities pertaining to their forested homelands and their superhuman senses. Halflings have a disarming charisma about them, and can start up a conversation with almost anyone.
This solution was used in OD&D, jointly with the next one, but was dropped in later editions, likely for balance reasons. Midgard brings back some of these with its abilities for Dhampir and Minotaurs, and hints at further expansion for races with racial magic schools (though that may be more fitting within the next section).
Pros:
- Gives additional possible actions for each player to use during gameplay
- Characters may feel more grounded, with greater ability to play off racial stereotypes
Cons:
- Have to come up with unique abilities for each race
- Abilities would likely be difficult to balance
- Actual usefulness of abilities depends entirely upon content of gameplay
Aasimar: Within Midgard, this race of half-angel, half-human beings live within a region named Ishardia, on the far side of the Mharoti Empire. Combining typical fiction of Aasimar with Midgard lore might yield the following. Once per day, an Aasimar may use your angelic songs to cast either Command or Charm Person upon a humanoid target. This ability also refreshes upon the first meeting with any divine being (angels, avatars, or gods).
This solution can create some very interesting situations, but requires a large amount of effort to come up with unique, useful, and balanced abilities for each race.
Idea #2: Race-Limited Character Options
Another solution would be to limit a character's options based upon race. This was the case in older editions of D&D, where one might play as a Dwarf or Half-Elf and that's it. The race was also the class, Dwarves having a certain set of abilities that differed from Half-Elves, and so on. This has been removed/expanded upon repeatedly, giving us the options we have today. But placing some limits on characters by race might create more meaningful choice between them.
Pros:
- Immediately makes race a very meaningful choice
- Limits possible character creation issues for new players (so they can't accidentally make a severely underpowered character)
- Simple to implement, requires little effort
- May make more sense thematically (see below)
- May make less sense thematically (see below)
- Is prone to exceptions ("My giant should be a rogue because he was raised by a clan of ninjas")
- If followed strictly, hampers player creativity
- Age-old problem: "what's special about humans?"
Centaurs within Midgard are a nomadic and violent people. They travel in tribes, and are often looked upon as nothing more than bandits and raiders. They might be limited to a set of classes such as: Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue.
Example 2:
Dwarves in Midgard are master craftsmen, and have ancient secrets within their clans. They alone have access to the schools of Ring Magic and Rune Magic, giving more options to spellcasters within their ranks.
This solution makes race a very impactful choice to each character (as it should be). For most, but not all, characters, limiting magic/class/sub-class options makes sense thematically. A character that was born and raised within the society of its race should follow the standards of its race, for the most part. A typical elf should act like a typical elf. But many player characters are not typical elves. PCs come in all forms and flavors, and often have strange and unique backgrounds that would cause the character to have no reason to follow its people's standards and traditions. If the PC is a centaur that was abandoned and raised by dragonborn magic users, why can't he be a sorcerer? Or a bard?
On the other hand, one can "limit" character options by introducing new options and give those only to certain races, such as the new schools of magic in Midgard. For many of the new races, a new school of magic is available to that race as well. An extreme version of this is to create an entire class available to only certain races, but this would require a great deal of effort and would likely skew gameplay (because why play that race if you're not going to play with their cool new class).
Idea #3: Meaningful Stat Changes
The problem with the racial effects listed in 5e aren't that they are simply attribute changes, it's that the changes can often be completely meaningless. An average half-orc and gnome have the same attribute score in Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma. This leads to these very different races feeling extremely similar. But what if races received major statistic bonuses and drawbacks that favored a certain style of play?
Pros:
- Small amount of work required
- Fits thematically; different races will favor different ways of life
- Might cause greater variance and originality within a party
Cons:
- Difficult to balance
Example 1:
Gnomes in 5e receive +2 INT and +1 CON, making them favor Wizards and INT-based characters (on another note, D&D needs more uses for Intelligence, as it feels underwhelming compared to other attributes). Instead, they could receive a step down on their hit die (1d12->1d10->1d8->1d6->1d4), but gain innate spellcasting of one cantrip at will and one level-1 spell once per day.
Example 2:
Dust Goblins currently do not have defined statistics as a player race, but are listed in the Tome of Beasts. They are dexterous and hardy, but lack in strength, wisdom, and charisma. While this large amount of stat variance might be enough, a more interesting racial change might be gaining advantage on all CHA checks with/saves against Aberrations and immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions, but can never have an INT higher than 10, and take -2 to WIS or -2 to STR.
Note: the changes to the Dust Goblin might be a little extreme, as they could limit possible character options too much and only allow one or two archetypes within that race. This was made to mirror the stat block for Dust Goblins as they are printed.
These are just a few ways meaningful stat changes could be made. This could apply to initiative, AC, HP, damage, skill modifiers, or any other number on the character sheet. Balance can become quite difficult, but this solution has quite a few pros to it.
Summary:
Each method has its own benefits and issues. I believe to make a truly interesting arrangement of racial options for your players, a combination of the solutions above and possibly others would be the best situation. This article is meant to be a sort of brainstorming session to get you to think about the possible directions races in tabletop games can be taken. I will be implementing my own chart of racial modifications in my currently ongoing games to see what works and what doesn't.
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