Spes Magna Games

Elfland’s Ethics & World Building | World-Building: Causes & Consequences | World-Building: Geneses | World-Building: About Alignment | World-Building: The False Light | World-Building: The Elves | World-Building: Rules Changes I

Nota Bene: Some of the details below may seem less detailed than necessary. If so, it’s likely because I’m still working the answers to a few questions.

Isarn Egni, the Forge Lord, mined iron from the depths of the First Mountain. He purified the metal with the heat of his gaze and hammered it on the Dread Anvil into the forms of Heled and Murgeda, the first dwarves. Isarn Egni granted his creatures life by plunging them into pure spring water untouched by sunlight. He then gave Heled and Murgeda dominion over all lightless places as well as the lands surrounding the entrances to the World-Under.

During the Second Age, dwarven culture reached its pinnacle. The dwarves expanded westward across the Duna, driving the elves from their cities and liberating the humans whom the elves had ruled. Dwarves built and controlled the most powerful cities, crafting an empire that radiated out from Ironspyre, the mightiest dwarven mountain home. Dwarven hegemony shattered during the Gargarizein, when gargoyles erupted from World-Under into the Deeps to overrun several major dwarven strongholds. Thousands of dwarf warriors died defending their domains. Thousands more abandoned their homes when it became clear hope was lost.

Today, dwarves are uncommon. The surviving clans have scattered, forming enclaves in a handful of cities along the Duna, the great river that separates the Western Lands from the plains beneath the Sundered Chain, that range of mountains that was once the backbone of dwarven military and political power. Within these enclaves, dwarven guilds dominate all aspects of metalworking while the scions of once-great clans dream of reclaiming their ancient mountain halls.

Prime Requisite: Strength
Level Limit: 12
Multi-Class Options: Cleric, Paladin, Thief

Dwarf Special Abilities

These special abilities replace those described in the standard rules.

Armor and Weapons: Dwarves can wear any armor and use shields. They may use any weapon of normal or small size, but may use neither two-handed swords or longbows.

Dark Sight: Dwarves can see in total (nonmagical) darkness as if it were bright light. In dim light or night-time conditions, their vision is limited to 120 feet, and they lose the ability to discern color, seeing everything in black, white, and shades of gray. Dwarves have their vision further reduced to 60 feet in bright light, and they suffer a -1 on their “to hit” rolls in such conditions.

Languages: Dwarves speak Common and Dwarven. If they speak any additional languages, the first choice must be Garg, Goblin, or Orc.

Mettle of Metal: Dwarves possess remarkable toughness. Nonmagical fire inflicts -2 points of damage per damage die (with a minimum of 0 points per die). Magical fire inflicts -1 point of damage per damage die (with minimum of 1 point per die). Dwarves take 1 fewer points of damage from cutting or slashing attacks (to a minimum of 1 point of damage).

Skilled: When making an ability check related to metalwork, mining, or stonework, reduce the difficulty by 1d6.

Stout: A dwarf’s tactical movement is not affected by encumbrance to the same extent other races experience.

Tags: B/X D&D, character races, world-building

Elfland’s Ethics & World Building | World-Building: Causes & Consequences | World-Building: Geneses | World-Building: About Alignment | World-Building: The False Light

Nota Bene: The descriptive preface has changed a bit from earlier iterations. Elven abilities have changed quite a bit from the B/X D&D norm.

Har Marei, the Queen of Waves and Lord of the Moon, created the elves from coral and seafoam. She brought to life Indóar and Lona, the first elves, through an infusion of her own blood, and she blessed them with the dolphin’s playful heart and the shark’s predatory instincts. He also made their forms changeable and cyclical, like the tides below and the phases of his lunar abode above. Har Marei gave Indóar and Lona dominion over the seas and all coastal places.

Elven warrior-wizards built cities and ships. The First Age began when elven longships cut through the waves from Avallen, the elves’ ancestral homeland, to land on the Western Shore. The elves conquered most of Belgica and Gaal, imposing elven administration over the disparate human tribes of the region. The elves controlled the region from the Western Shore to the Duna, along the shores of which they built several fortress-cities to guard against the militaristic dwarven clans that were consolidating their control over the mountains lands and plains of the East.

The First Age ended when those dwarven clans crossed the Duna to wage a war of conquest against the elves. Many humans sided with the dwarves, adding civil war to the chaos caused by dwarven aggression. Today, the elves still control a few strongholds along the Western Shore as well as several islands, most of which serve as ports of call for elven pirate-lords.

Prime Requisite: Strength, Intelligence
Hit Die: d6
Level Limit: 10
Multi-Class Options: Cleric, Thief

Elf Special Abilities

These special abilities replace those described in the standard rules.

Armor and Weapons: Elves can wear any armor, use shields, and wield any weapon. They excel with bows and one-handed swords, gaining a +1 to-hit bonus with these weapons.

Duality: All elves are both male and female, both martial (makar) and magical (istar). When an elf PC is created, the player must decide which sex corresponds with which adjective. Thus, an elf can be a magical male and a martial female, or vice versa. The player may modify ability scores to generate two sets of scores, applying one set to each form. At moonrise each day, an elf’s sex changes. An elf can attempt to resist this change by making a saving throw versus spells. When an elf changes form, the elf recovers 1d6 lost hit points. In either form, elves are immune to the paralyzing touch of ghouls.

Keen Senses: Elvish eyesight is not especially acute or able to pierce darkness, but their senses of hearing and smell are keen. Against a creature that can be heard, elves adds +1 to their surprise rolls. Against an injured creature that can bleed and that is within 30 feet, elves enjoy a +1 to surprise rolls against that creature. The DM may adjudicate that extenuating circumstances modify the range of this latter ability. These bonuses are cumulative.

Languages: Elves speak Common and Elven. (Nota Bene: Additional languages specific to certain races are still under construction.)

Skilled: When making an ability check to locate secret or hidden doors, reduce the difficulty by 1d6.

Istar Special Abilities

Combat: In istar form, an elf resolves attack rolls using the same table as magic-users.

Saving Throws: An elf in istar form receives a +2 bonus on saving throws against charm and sleep. The elf also receives a saving throw against sleep magic, even when the magic does not normally permit a saving throw.

Spellcasting: Like the magic-user, an elf owns a book of spells, which does not necessarily include all of the spells on the standard lists. Reading from this book, the elf presses select spell formulae into the mind, thus “preparing” those spells to be cast. Once a prepared spell is cast, the spell formulae disappears from the elf’s mind, and must be prepared again before another attempt can be made to cast it. However, it is possible to prepare a spell multiple times using the available “slots” in the elf’s memory. If the elf finds spell scrolls during an adventure, those can be copied into the spellbook.

Warrior-Wizards: Elves in istar form can wear any armor while casting spells. They cannot use shields or wield weapons at the same time since spell-casting requires that the caster’s hands be free.

Makar Special Abilities

Blood Frenzy: When engaged in melee against an injured creature that can bleed, elves in makar form gain a +1 to their “to hit” rolls. This bonus stacks with the bonus received from using a one-handed sword.

Combat: In makar form, an elf resolves attack rolls using the same table as clerics.

Saving Throws: An elf in makar form receives a +2 bonus on saving throws against fear and sleep. The elf also receives a saving throw against sleep magic, even when the magic does not normally permit a saving throw.

Tags: B/X D&D, character races, world-building

With the publication of Volo’s Guide to Monsters (VG), new rules introduced 5E D&D players to monstrous character options, specifically bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, and yuan-ti purebloods. Other character options included in VG include aasimar, firbolgs, goliaths, kenku, lizardfolk, tabaxi, and tritons. For whatever reason, only aasimar have subraces, a lack-of-feature shared by dragonborn, half-elves, half-orcs, humans, and tieflings.

Turning away from 5E D&D to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, we find different types of goblins, three of which I’ve developed into 5E-style subraces for goblins. First, however, I need to tweak VG’s goblin traits just a bit:

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

The other goblin traits listed in VG remain unchanged. This trait is added:

Subrace. Three subraces of goblin exist: forest goblins, hill goblins, and night goblins. Choose one of them for your character.

Forest Goblin

Forest goblins live in wild woods, especially rain forests in any clime. They dwell in burrows excavated among the roots of ancient trees as well as in crude tree forts high above the forest floor. These goblinoids have little skill in most crafts. Their tools tend to be made from wood, leather, bone, and vine. Forest goblins seem to know nothing of metal working, although they may make use of metal tools taken from more civilized trespassers who venture into forest goblin territory unprepared for the goblins’ traps, ambuscades, and poison-tipped darts.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.

Forest Goblin Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison used by beasts, fey, monstrosities, and plants, and you have resistance against poison damage from those same sources.

Tree-Borne. Whenever you make a Strength (Athletics) check for climbing or jumping, you are considered proficient in the Athletics skill, and you add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Hill Goblin

Stocky and hardy, hill goblins have burly builds, their arms somewhat longer than their legs. They dwell in rocky hills and caves, often mining the latter for ore and precious stones. Hill goblins are somewhat less war-like than other goblins, but they defend their territories with alarming savagery.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.

Cave-Borne. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Perception) check while in hills or caves, you are considered proficient in the Perception skill, and you add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus. Also, when you make a Dexterity saving throw against a trap or hazard involving stonework or rocks, you are considered proficient in Dexterity saving throws, and you add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Night Goblin

Night goblins rarely venture far from their subterranean homes, and even then sally forth only during the most overcast days or at night. Secretive and vicious, night goblins pay homage to horrid deities and fiends who demand blood sacrifices, especially of sentient creatures. Owing to their preferred environs and horrid practices, night goblin adventurers are rare.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Improved Darkvision. Your darkvision has a radius of 90 feet.

Light Sensitivity. While in sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Night Goblin Magic. You can imbue a single weapon attack with dark magic as a bonus action. This changes the weapon’s damage type to poison. You can use this ability once and regain the ability to use it when you finish a short or long rest. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast expeditious retreat once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast levitate once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Tags: 5E D&D, character races