Races of Avion 2: Avion's visitors from Avire

Here are the races of Avire: Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Imps, and Barcs.

Orcs
Hair: Maroon or crimson red, purple, rare platinum blond

Skin: Deep green to pale green

Other: what? did you think that orcs were gonna have normal hair?

Personality: Orcs, at first impression, are considered to be "calmer, green humans," being somewhat unpredictable and clever, but also showing great patience. However when orcs reach their breaking point, or someone threatens their friends, family, or land they can become extremely angry and destructive, with surprising stamina.

Goblins
Hair: Green, brown, uncommon dark gray

Skin: sickly yellow to bright yellow, orange

Other: Precocious little folk, goblins are constantly innovating, though their ideas are rarely well thought out. whenever they get bored, they start to think of new ideas. For this reason, the other races like to keep goblins busy, as all their ideas tend to end up badly eventually, some known to take millennia to do so (see barcs, below).

Hobgoblins
Hair: any orc or goblin hair color, especially green or red, rarer colors are more common

Skin: any goblin color

Personality: Goblin skin color and orc stature. Descendants of Orc/goblin pairings that were bred and kept as slaves, and eventually revolted (another goblin idea gone wrong). Hobgoblins have since created their own culture and kingdoms, friendly but weary of the other races.

Imps
Hair: Primary or secondary colors - only 2 genes for fur color

Skin: covered in fur

Rules: in later post.

Personality: Tiny, hairy, brightly colored, winged men. When first seen by Avion's races, thought to be demons, but imps, though low in intelligence, are friendly and try to help the other races as much as they can. They love working as messengers, and hate being spies.

Barcs
hair: hairless?

Skin: exoskeleton, almost any real-life crab color, commonly brown

Rules: in a later post.

Personality: Barcs are intelligent crabs, originally raised, bred, and trained by goblins for "crab knife fighting" competitions since before any recorded history. After several thousand years, the specialized breeding of these crabs caused them to become intelligent, and question their masters. This brought about the goblin term "the crabs are revolting" (referring to a bad day), and the goblin's tendency to constantly wear lower leg armor, as the barcs hold a grudge and are trained to use knifes. Barcs that breed with normal crabs only have barc offspring.

Question about tiny sized races

Now that I have joined the network and people will actually read my posts, I wanted to ask:

Does anyone have any ideas for "tiny" sized races?


In Ages of Avion, my homebrew setting, there will be several of them and I have yet to actually determine the rules for them. They are probably not going to be played by anyone other than those who are more role-playing oriented, as I can't imagine all of their stats will be near to the medium and small sized races.

One idea that I came up with was that the tiny sized races start with stats lower, such as 6,6,6,6,8,10 before adding points. The 8 and 10 being things that that race excels at, such as an ellobian's high intelligence.


Well, if anyone has put any thought into this or if you just come up with an idea on the spot, comment.

Planet-sized Jelly Monster

I looked at the title of a post over at A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons and misunderstood it. It said "Monster: Earth Jelly," and I mistook it to be this:

A GIANT SPACE OOZE THAT TRAVELS FROM PLANET TO PLANET EATING ALL ORGANIC MATTER!

Take an Ooze monster, add Unicron, and Galactus, and what do you get?

DOOM!

This would be an awesome one time Spelljammer adventure, where the characters have to figure out how to stop it before it consumes their home planet.

Wow, I can't even think of how it could be stopped... But then again it is late as I am writing this... Can anyone think of a way to destroy it?

Other than a ShamWow.

I made it! I am a member of the RPG Bloggers Network!

This week I am putting off my next update in the "Races of Avion" series for some good news: I got accepted into the prestigious group known as the RPG Bloggers Network.
Now I will actually get readers! In celebration of my acceptance, here is a small part of my 4e speculation file:

How will the Power Sources be distributed in the next Player's handbook?

I don't know, but here are the most likely possibilities! (in my opinion)
















Sorry if the picture is a little fuzzy, blogger didn't like it very much, click for a closer view.

St Patrick's Day RPG Blog carnival: Leprechaun Racial Stats!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

In honor of this holiday, I present to you: Leprechaun racial stats:

Leprechaun

Short fey, clad in green, with red hair and beard, and not to mention, a mischievous smile. Racial Traits Average Height: 2'10"-3'2" Average Weight: 50-75 lbs. _______________________________ Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, + 2 Intelligence Size: Small Speed: 6 squares Vision: Normal _______________________________ Languages: Common, Choice of one other. Skill Bonus(es): +2 Stealth, +2 Bluff Trickery of the Unseen Leprechaun Racial Power As your enemies take their eyes off of you, you fade away. If they are lucky, you will only escape... Encounter ✦ Illusion Minor Action Personal Effect: You are invisible until you attack or until the end of your next turn. Special: You can only use this power if you were not attacked since your last turn, and if there is nobody watching you carefully. The ability may be used if a successful bluff check is made against all attackers and people that are watching you. Fey Origin: You are a native to the Feywild, so you are considered a fey creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin Emerald Attire: You gain a +5 bonus to stealth while hidden in green vegetation. Leprechaun weapon proficiency: You gain proficiency with the Shillelagh. Leprechauns are commonly from forest areas, where they can hide and live in solitude. Play a Leprechaun if you want... To play a quick, intelligent race. To play a race intent on reclaiming, building up, or starting a gold collection. To play a race that favors the Avenger, Rogue , and Wizard classes. Physical Qualities: Short, red hair, and almost always clad in green. Playing a Leprechaun: Leprechauns are tricksters, and are prone to playing pranks, even on their own party members. Leprechaun Characteristics: Quick, tricky, intelligent. Male Names: Angus, Daley, Finn, Mannix, Padraig, Rorie. Female Names: Aine, Eilis, Lean, Mairin, Quinn, Sorcha. Leprechaun trickery Leprechaun Racial Feat Tier: Heroic Prerequisite:Leprechaun,Trickery of the unseen racial power. Description: Once per day, when you use your Trickery of the Unseen racial power, you may roll twice for your bluff check and use the higher result.

Well, I think it turned out pretty well, what do you guys think? Not bad for my first homebrew race, eh?


Though, does anyone know of a better way to format it to look better?

The terrible truth

There is something I have to say...


I'm more of a player than a DM.


I've spent way more time reading the PHB than the DMG, my favorite part of the monster manual is the monstrous races in the back, and I look forward to the PHB2 than I ever will for the DMG2.

Its true, and not only that, but when I try to DM it never goes as well as I'd like.

So, once my group is through with Keep on the Shadowfell, one of my players, Kami (currently Aiur), will take over with a campaign of his own.

I will still write my adventure journals, though possibly from the perspective of my character (or at least we'll see how well that turns out), and I'll post some of my ideas that I came up with for continuing from the end of the KotS.


Edit: in case you are wondering, I write this because in my second post, the first D&D session, I write about how proud I was of being a DM. Its fun, but I'm just saying that I'd much rather be a player.

What class are you?

Everyone else is posting theirs, why not?

D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium

In secret temples far from bustling cities and priestly hierarchies, orders of esoteric warriors train their initiates in ancient traditions now forgotten or forbidden by most religious organizations. The champions of these orders are avengers—deadly weapons in the hands of their gods, imbued with divine power through secret rites of initiation. In battle, avengers swear to execute divine vengeance, entering a mental state that gives them unerring focus on a single enemy.

As an avenger, you were trained in a monastery, initiated through secret rites, and imbued with the power to smite your god's foes. You might be a disciple of Ioun, sworn to hunt and exterminate the minions of Vecna until you one day face the Maimed God. You could be an agent of the Raven Queen, bringing death to those who would defy your mistress. Or perhaps you serve Bahamut as an agent of justice, bringing ruin to tyrants and oppressors. The organizations devoted to your god might view you as a heretic or a hero, but you answer only to your god and to the vows you swore upon your initiation as an avenger.

Where will those vows lead you? One thing is certain: Doing the will of your god is never easy and never free of peril.

Yeah, I'm kinda awesome like that. Can't wait for the PHB2 to come out so I can see all the awesome powers I get!

Wish they had added it to the character builder...

And here are my player's results!


Nieen's player:

D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium

WHAT?

Red Nose Day

what the heck?

Races of Avion 1: Avion's Original Races

Ages of Avion may be similar to the typical D&D setting, but not everything is the same! Some of the races have slight changes, and some races do not even exist. So, of course, I will now go further into more detail about the races of Avion. In this post, the races that are originally from Avion, and are playable at least by the third age.

Human
Skin: any real life human color

Hair: any real life human color

Personality: basically like any real life human. Humans, according to the other races, tend to be stubborn, unpredictable, and troublesome. However, they see themselves as strong willed, ingenuous, and fun to be around. Many humans have a tendency to rush into things where other races would have second thoughts about treading. Though a lack (or at least a deficiency) of common sense is not present in all humans, it is common in their adventurers.

Elves
Hair: white, very light gray, or very light blond hair naturally, but most tend to dye their hair seasonally to match the colors: green in the spring, orange/red/yellow in the fall, and gray/brown in the winter. Almost always straight, though a curly haired elf are known to exist.

Skin: I am still debating whether to give them fair skin like most typical elves or if I should give them tan to dark colored skin? I'll figure it out later and update this.

Personality: Elves tend to be quiet and observant, and have a tendency to startle other races when they suddenly notice an elf sitting there. This is not the case when it comes to drunken elves, but that's something for later. They love to do various forms of arts and crafts, and become quite upset if you refer to their particular craft as anything less than art. No matter the product or quality.

Dwarves
Hair: tends to be dark brown, rusty red, other earthy/mineral colors, usually rough, beards same as hair.

Skin: similar to the elves I am not sure as to what to do with their skin. They could have an earthy, tan colored skin, but wouldn't it make more sense for them to have pale skin?

Personality: similar to drunken elves (and drinking makes them even worse), loud, crude, and unshaven, many dwarves adventure just to get some scars to brag about at the tavern.

Halflings
Hair: lighter human colors

Skin: Light tan to fair

Personality: halflings are, compared to the other races, somewhat uncivilized. They tend to prefer primal or martial classes, especially those that do the most melee damage. They lead simple lives, farming, hunting, etc. until, upon reaching adulthood, they catch the wanderlust and travel, commonly adventuring, until they have acquired fortune, a mate, or both then return to their homeland (or in the case of females, to their mate's homeland) to return to a life of farming.

Gnomes
Hair: all the same light brown color

Skin: all the same light tan color

Other: not much variation amongst this race, rules coming in later post

Personality: These tiny tricksters can capture much larger prey with their numbers. Gnomish legend says that a single tribe once defeated The Tarrasque. Barbaric in nature they are known to capture and on occasion eat other intelligent creatures.they have a reputation as being untrustworthy among the other races, which is well deserved, but towards fellow gnomes and the few "big folk" that know some gnomish secrets, they are very friendly and courteous.

Ellobians
Hair: Hairless

Skin: Slimy, green skin, with shells that can be the color of any real life snail's shell.

Personality: Super intelligent, tiny, and friendly, ellobians make the perfect advisers. They gladly help out people that they think are good who give them enough food, access to new places and information, and access to other ellobians when they request it. They are able to transfer information to each other, though physical contact. They are capable of casting powerful magic, but due to their quiet, pacifistic nature they tend to not use it except in self defense.

Portal cats

Hair: Any real life cat hair color

Skin: covered in fur

Personality: Aloof, while they do enjoy a good hunt, they enjoy sleeping and prowling just as much. Portal cats are very similar to regular cats in personality, but their intelligence makes them stand out very clearly. They cannot speak common, but it is not uncommon for one to understand several different languages. They have their own language, but are very careful to keep it a secret. When portal cats breed with normal cats, the resulting offspring, called por cats or tal cats (half portal cats), tend to be infertile, less intelligent, and create less stable portals, which are dangerous.

Races of Avion

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting more detailed descriptions of the races of Avion. They are not exactly like the standard races, and will all have descriptions to explain the views of the majority of that race. Of course, characters are not required to have that view, and can be completely different from the description. Most of the new races will use exact or modified rules of other races from the official D&D setting, Player and monster races.


The first Post includes the races that are from Avion, then two posts for the races that came from Avire and Avito. The fourth post will contain half-breeds of any mix that seems reasonable, the fifth will finally have rules for the tiny sized races. Then the final post in the series will have a comparison to all the races currently in the D&D books.

All of these are likely to get updates at some point, so although they are to be considered complete, they are far from it. And don't worry, I'll find some way to keep you informed if there is an update.

Ultimate damage tank

I was thinking about Dak Ness, the "shifty shifter," and decided that he needed some team mates. So I decided to make more optimized characters who could use their racial abilities to augment their classes, and I noticed that the bugbear can use weapons that are one size larger than its own size(and I later found that minotaurs have the same ability, but only in the monster manual). So I made Rahz, a bugbear fighter, multi-classing as a ranger for the two weapon fighting abilities. So, here, thanks to iplay4e, I can display Rahz here on Ideamancer!

The main idea for Rahz was to make a character that would do as much damage as possible. Bugbears get a strength bonus, can use weapons one size catagory larger then they are, and has an ability that can let him do extra damage once per encounter. I decided that my damage machine would be either a ranger or a fighter, eventually choosing fighter since Dak was already a ranger, and giving him a little more toughness to take more hits. But anyway... First thing that I did was Look through the weapons to find the best damage dealing one handed weapon (if you haven't figured it out already, you'll see why one handed soon). It took a while, but I finally found it: the bastard sword. Better yet, since he could use weapons one size larger: LARGE BASTARD SWORD! 1d12 Damage, +3 proficency, and only 30gp each. So, after taking feats so that he could A) Use bastard swords, weapon proficiency (bastard sword) B) Use a one handed weapon as a off hand weapon, Two blade warrior (multiclass ranger). He was ready to go bust some heads. I also gave him the novice power feat, to take advantage of some of the ranger's powers. I auto added some magic items, them replaced them with more appropriate magic items of the same level, such as the lightning weapon for one of his swords.

I think I a going to update Dak Ness on the shifty shifter post, so that he is viewable as Rahz is above.

Ages of Ages of Avion

Now that I have actually named my fantasy setting Ages of Avion, I guess I'd better describe the ages. The ages are essentially sub-settings within the main setting, ideally will all be playable and interesting enough to play. Each age is a different time period in the world's history, from the human race's perspective, thought I may later expand it to include history of all of Avion's races and then even the races from the rest of the planes.

well, I suppose I need to go into the planes a little too then...

Avion is a planet in a plane roughly the size of our galaxy, which is in itself a part of a grouping of planes referred to later as a realm. There are several realms that make up the universe, but I'll get into that later. Each realm has a theme to its planes that are organized into a geometric shape with a plane or group of planes in the middle, called a midwelt. The Realm that Avion is in, the Material Realm is a triangle, with a triple midwelt of Avion, Avito and Avire. All three of these planes are similar, but are still very different. The interesting thing about having multiple planes in the midwelt is that they occasionally collide, letting people freely travel between them... or rather, forcibly cause their immigration into a new plane. But that will come later.

The First Age

Start:Humans begin to record history.

Summary: Several human kingdoms battle for supremacy. Humans are capable of using magic, but very few/none of them have have any knowledge of it, so there is very little/no magic. This age is somewhat based on another setting of mine called Kingdoms of Canterbury, which I will explain in more detail later.

Races: humans are the only race, think medieval times or dark ages, just trying to fight each other to become more powerful.

Adventures: one king sends you to spy on/sabotage/attack/etc. another, or find a spy/saboteur, defend attacker, or etc. from another kingdom.

End: one of three things happens: 1. a truce, and then expansion until they run into elves and dwarves. 2. one kingdom takes over then expands until they run into elves and dwarves. 3. they encounter elves and dwarves and are forced to unify against them.

The Second Age

Start: Humans encounter elves and dwarves.

Summary: For whatever reason, the humans decide that the elves and dwarves are their enemies. Be it violent tendencies, divine inspiration, or just the fear of the unknown/different. Until this point, humans thought they were alone in their world, then other races show up, and powerful beings that were made by the creator to watch over the universe (who are already goofing off). These beings introduce magic to the races, further worsening the war.

Races: Humans are comparable to renaissance times, dwarfs are close to typical dwarf "warrior miners", and elves are very druidic forest people.

Adventures: bringing supplies to the troops, attacking enemy troops, scouting enemy territory, stealing enemy magic/tech secrets.

End: The dwarves and elves find out about each other and coordinate their attacks to weaken the humans, causing them to agree to a treaty. Humans would never say that they lost.

The Third Age

Start: With their new found peace, though somewhat untrusting at first, the races begin sharing ideas and exploring their world.

Summary: Now that they are not fighting each other, the humans, elves, and dwarves begin to explore more of the world they live in. They encounter several new races, such as the friendly halflings, the intelligent ellobians, the mischievous gnomes, and the unexplainable portal cats, as well as new beasts and monsters. Some people begin to colonize new lands, while some stay in the larger populated areas to further magic and other ideas.

Races: Humans, elves, and dwarves share a great deal between their cultures, blurring the lines between them. Halflings, being friendly and inquisitive, quickly take to this sharing of ideas and even helps improve on them, and also on various types of magic. The ellobians, despite their snail bodies, begin to gain a high standing as advisers due to their high intelligence and quick understanding of how things work. Portal Cats, although they started out rough, being captured and experimented on, began being hired as watchmen in large estates and buildings, and that they caught small rodents did not hurt either. Gnomes, or "quarterlings," wasted no time in getting themselves a bad, but well deserved, reputation as trouble makers, and have thus not been welcomed into the more civilized areas, not that that completely stopped them. Humans, elves, and dwarves find that they are, in fact, capable of interbreeding, causing small numbers of human/elf, human/dwarf, and elf/dwarf individuals to appear, especially in colonized areas. Possibly a gold rush during this age as well.

Adventures: Protecting settlements from animals/monsters/mean people, settle settlement disputes, moving into unexplored territories to stake a claim during gold rush.

End: The planes in the material realm collide, sending people, beasts, and even some large pieces of land into the other realms. Overall, think colonial times.

The Fourth Age

Start: With the planar collision, the world is thrown into chaos. People disappearing, strange, new peoples showing up, the landscape changing before their eyes. Panic, fear, and confusion spread throughout Avion.

Summary: Some believed it was an invasion, others trickery by beings meant to watch over the universe, some thought it was the end product in meddling too deeply into magic's core. Until near the end of the age, nobody knew what happened, the people of Avion banded together to fight the newcomers, believing that they brought doom with them. Monster people with green or yellow skin or part animal, small flying demonic creatures, even new animals they had never seen walked among them. Many battles were fought, many people slaughtered, before a wizard who was studying a portal between the worlds got stuck in the space between them, the ether, and got a glimpse of what was going on. Thanks to this new information, campaigns of peace spread over Avion, they learned how to create their own portals between the plains and contact them. Some families were reunited, some people returned to find they had nothing left.

Races: In the confusion, all of the races lost large pieces of their culture, and when order was restored the races supported each other, merging largely into one cultural group. for a time, all races were warmongers, as long as they were the majority. Some orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and imps were able to group together and defend themselves, the beastfolk rallied under the kobold's leadership and began to make occasional counter attacks. Humans, elves, and dwarves believed the invaders were demons, devils, and other evil things out to destroy them and acted like demons, devils, and other evil things while defending their lands.

Adventures: Attacking groups of invasive races, trying to find loved ones (for selves or hired to look for other people's), trying to make treaties (latter part of the age).

End: The people try to return to normal as best as they could, sending many back to their people's home plane. Many remained, having lived on Avion for several generations, some not even knowing their ancestors had left their plane. The planes eventually ended their collision, letting people stop worrying that they might get torn from their homes and families at any moment.

The Fifth Age

Start: The planes stop colliding, and Avion flourishes.

Summary: Thanks to the information gained during the planar collision, travel to new plains is possible, people begin to colonize these new found planes. by taping into the ether, the space between the planes, devices that allow long distance communications are built, so that people are able to communicate even between the planes.
Races: While the races still have their separate cultures, they are further blending. Of course, there are some who refuse to let go of prejudices. New mix breed races appear as well as some neones from the elemental planes.

Adventures: Colonizing adventures from the third age, but on the new planes.

End: unknown (I have not decided yet)

All Ages

World Beast: Every plane has a large, indestructible beast that is connected to it, on Avion, there is the Tarrasque, a HUGE monster that likes to destroy things and take long naps. It is first encountered during the second age when he interrupts a battle by walking by. During the fourth age, the people of Avion unwittingly try to destroy their world by sending the Tarrasque to one of the other planes to attack them. Had they been successful, they would have destroyed their world by disconnecting it from its world beast, as well as possibly destroy the plane they sent it to by having too many wold beasts there. Then that would have set the other planes off center, which could destroy the whole realm. Lawl. No info yet on the other planes's world beasts.

Monsters: new monsters are added every age! More on this later!

ZOMG! Kobolds!

Kobolds, maybe I just like to root for the little guys, but I like them.

Kobolds are fun! Little, dragon obsessed, scaly people who just try to make a living when some adventurers go and lay waste to their entire family.

I was hoping that there would be better race information for them in the draconomicon, maybe a few feats for them, like fire breath or some wings, but no luck. maybe someday, kobolds. Maybe someday, you will shine like I know you can.

For you, kobolds, I have labeled all posts that include a good bit of info about kobolds, and in a few weeks I will have rules for Ages of Avion kobolds. And don't expect the monster manual kobolds either.

Actually, I'll even give you a taste: Kobolds do not breed outside of their own scale color (and especially not other races), and the rarest color (on the surface) is the purple kobold, who is able to see in the dark and uses picks as weapons. I may even use one for a story, using the "drow that is afraid of the dark" idea to use on this character.

Updates for the next few weeks:
Ages of Ages of Avion
Races of Avion series (6 in all, subject to change)