[Keth Durgan]

Here's a new one that I'm working on for my world. They are meant to be the intellectuals in society. This is the product of about an hour's work, so feel free to help with balance issues or anything like that.

Update 12/31/06: I've finally finished fleshing out the Faldirin race. It's a bit thin, but I think everything is there at this point. Anything else I add in the future will probably be a result of gameplay in my home campaign. Thanks for all of the help and advice!

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A frail, but intelligent and charismatic race, Faldirin are primarily storytellers, sages, crafters, and aristocrats.

Personality: Faldirin enjoy the thrill that comes with learning and creating. Their insightful nature also helps them to be natural negotiators and leaders.

Physical Description: Faldirin are a tall, feline race. Their body is covered with short, soft fur ranging in in color from whites and light grays to darker colors such as brown or black.

Relations: Because of their intellectual and soft-spoken nature, Faldirin find it easy to get along with most races. Humans and elves find themselves most at ease with Faldirin, but the feline race's love of learning and crafting make them close friends of gnomes. Halflings and dwarves get along with Faldirin fine, and generally prefer them over some of the less civilized races. While Faldirin do not commonly associate with orcs and other races of a more warlike nature, their diplomatic prowess keeps them on a neutral field when dealing with these races.

Alignment: Faldirin tend towards neutral alignments, owing to their affinity for knowledge and crafting. Some more aristocratic Faldirin follow lawful paths, while very few chaotic Faldirin to be found in the world. Faldirin are usually neutrally or good aligned.

Lands: Faldirin do not have many lands of their own. Their race came to the cities from the woodland realms and can be found in nearly all civilized places.

Religion: Many Faldirin are followers of Dallin Skordal, also known as The Artificer. Faldirin share his love of creating. In addition, some Faldirin (particularly those who become Aristocrats) choose to lead a less pious life and instead devote their energies to serving the causes of mortals as opposed to serving a deity.

Language: Faldirin speak Common and Faldirin. Because of their love of knowledge, Faldirin tend to learn many different languages.

Names: Faldirin names tend to be short and simple, with a graceful quality to them that accompanies their charismatic nature.
Male Names: Kitri, Sola
Female Names: Briaa, Milae

Adventurers: The majority of Faldirin who are found adventuring are those who have followed the path of the Inventor. Their curiosity has gotten the better of them, and they roam the world in seek of knowledge and new types of magical items. Faldirin who become Aristocrats are far less likely to be found wandering throughout Pannotia, though they can be encountered in many of the major civilized cities.

Racial Traits

• -2 Str, -2 Con, +2 Int, +2 Cha: Faldirin are not built for fighting, but they have a superior intellect and natural ease with others.
  
• Medium: As medium creatures, Faldirin have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Faldirin base land speed is 40 ft.
  
• Low-Light Vision: Faldirin can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  
• +2 racial bonus on diplomacy and sense motive checks. Faldirin are natural speakers, and are quick to pick up subtleties in another's words and movements.
  
• +2 to two craft skills of the character's choice. The Faldirins' natural affinity for creating makes them excellent crafters. Once this choice is made, it cannot be changed.
  
• Automatic Languages: Common and Faldirin. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
  
• Favored Class: Aristocrat or Inventor. A multiclass Faldirin's Aristocrat or Inventor levels do not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Faldirin are natural speakers and creators. Note: Only one of these classes can serve as the favored class for any given character. The player chooses at the time of character creation which class is treated as the favored class. The other is treated normally when multiclassing.

[Jimp]

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+2 to craft checks when creating, repairing or improving magical items

Be careful with this racial bonus because it can apply to any number of different craft skills, rather than a specific one or two like in the Core Dwarf and Gnome races. Magical items cover craft skills like Armorsmithing, Leatherworking, Fletching, Bow making, Blacksmithing and a plethora of other skills when it comes to some wonderious items.
Though conversly, the race doesn't give many other bonuses. Perhaps you could change it to magical weapons and armor, which would knock out alot of extra craft skills?

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Keth Durgan, on Jun 27 2006, 12:22 AM, said:

* -2 Str, -2 Con, +4 Int, +2 Cha: Faldirin are not built for fighting, but they have a superior intellect and natural ease with others.

My only concern is this +4 Int and +2 Cha only balanced by a -2 Str adn -2 Con. Believe it or not, the intellectual abilities are every bit as potent as the phsyical ones. And a smart player with a heady PC is probalby more dangerous than most fighters for the mere fact that they can think their way out of most things and back up such RPing with thier high mental abilities. Worse than that, imagine a wizard with that bonus at 1st level. You are talking about a wizard that could potentially have a starting Int of 22 and assuming the elite array, an Int of 20. That is insane for first level without magical enhancement. I'd either give them another racial ability/quality and tack on an LA +1 or drop that Int bonus back to +2.

[Axel]

Or increase their penalties. Add a -2 dex or bump the strength penalty to -4. Or just kill the +2 Cha. In any case, the penalties and bonuses should be equal.

[Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri]

I personally don't think that there is enough to this race. See about giving it a few more abilities or what not.

Also, have you looked at Races of Destiny. The Illumians could be an interesting reference for what you are doing.

[super sorcerer]

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Or increase their penalties. Add a -2 dex or bump the strength penalty to -4. Or just kill the +2 Cha. In any case, the penalties and bonuses should be equal.

Personaly I agree with you but one can say that strength is more important than other ability scores. I have 2 examples: the half-orc have +2str -2int -2cha yet still there are many players who do play half orcs even though they have more penalties than bonuses and if may I add there are even a few powergamers I know that play half orcs becouse the +2str is probably good enough to balance the other 2 penalties. My second example is not a realy good example becouse oriental adventures ballance a little different than standart games but the vanara from oriental adventures have +2int +2wis -2str but still no level adjustment.
I never judge a race/class before playtesting it (unless it is abloutly clearly unballanced) but at first glance it does not look so unballanced. The penalty to constitution seems harsh enough (the constitution penalty is only one of the reason I never play elves) and combined with a penalty to strength even a wizard with plenty of intelligence who have very few hit points and low strength is not that much better than other wizards. The penalty to constitution make a 5th level wizard from 19 hp on avarage (con12) to 14hp on avarage (con 10) or 14 hp on avarage (con10) to 10 hp on avarage (con8) that I say from my experience with elves but I don't want to judge this race before I playtest it. Once I playtest it I would have a stronger opinion about how powerfull it realy is.

[Rintaran]

super sorcerer, on Jul 2 2006, 08:44 AM, said:

Personaly I agree with you but one can say that strength is more important than other ability scores. I have 2 examples: the half-orc have +2str -2int -2cha yet still there are many players who do play half orcs even though they have more penalties than bonuses and if may I add there are even a few powergamers I know that play half orcs becouse the +2str is probably good enough to balance the other 2 penalties. My second example is not a realy good example becouse oriental adventures ballance a little different than standart games but the vanara from oriental adventures have +2int +2wis -2str but still no level adjustment.

It's not that "Strength" is more important than other ability scores, it's that WoTC has mistakenly decided that the physical scores are more valuable than the mental. It's all part of the roll-play devolution that WoTC has sent D&D into. According to the manuals, two points of str, dex or con is the equivalent to a total of four points of int, wis or cha.

This is why there has been lots of discussion about the half-orc, and how it "balances", or rather fails to balance with the other races in "role-play" games as opposed to "roll-play" games. Although I'm not intimately familiar with the vanara, it is likely that either it has some abilities to help balance it, or it's "balance" is just as contentious as that of the half-orc.

--

Now, on to the Faldirin. There really isn't much to them as they are, and I believe the stat-weight to be somewhat unbalanced. You should give the Faldirin some unique special ability... Additionally, I echo the extreme power of the bonus to craft/repairs. I would suggest giving the player an option between several craft skills and only gaining the benefit to one of them.

[Keth Durgan]

Thanks for the suggestions, and sorry for the delay in responding. I just got back from a four-day vacation where I had no internet access. I'll rework this race over the next day or two and update the main post. I may give them a little more to push them solidly into a LA+1 race, mainly because I'm hesitant to bump the ability modifiers up or down.

Good point about the craft stuff, Jimp and Rintarin. I'll definitely look at the wording and implementation of that.

[Rintaran]

Have you considered granting them an item creation feat? That could certainly make sense, and then you'd have their craft bonus be related to that feat... Just because they have the feat, doesn't mean they'll be able to use it, but it'd certainly help define the race as magic item creators/repairers...


Also, as this is the umptrillianth time I've seen it, my name is not spelt "Rintarin" but "Rintaran", alternately you could spell it "Rin". I highly advise all to take note, or I may have to ninja-poke some people! I'm looking at you Raven!

[Oneiros]

Rintaran, on Jul 2 2006, 09:46 AM, said:

It's not that "Strength" is more important than other ability scores, it's that WoTC has mistakenly decided that the physical scores are more valuable than the mental. It's all part of the roll-play devolution that WoTC has sent D&D into. According to the manuals, two points of str, dex or con is the equivalent to a total of four points of int, wis or cha.

Only Str bonuses have to be offset by double penalties. Dex and Con are balanced with an even trade (see elves and dwarves, for example.)

And really, in combat, the physical scores are more valuable than the mental. Str in particular can modify several rolls for a fighter character in a single round (To Hit and Damage). In character interaction, however, no score has that much weight. Yes, you might play a +2 Int or Cha character differently than a -2 Int or Cha, but those scores don't affect as many rolls as Str does in its portion of the game.

Note that a Str penalty is only offset by an equal bonus, not double, because if you play a race with a Str penalty, you're probably not going to be choosing a class with Str as its focus.

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This is why there has been lots of discussion about the half-orc, and how it "balances", or rather fails to balance with the other races in "role-play" games as opposed to "roll-play" games. Although I'm not intimately familiar with the vanara, it is likely that either it has some abilities to help balance it, or it's "balance" is just as contentious as that of the half-orc.

Again, debates about the half-orc are in relation to it's mechanical balance, not roleplaying. I mean, how do stat mods make you less able to roleplay a half-orc compared to a dwarf? They don't. It's apples and oranges.

Also, this isn't any sort of roll-play devolution. It's a simply recognizing that mechanically, Str is more useful. You don't balance mechanics with roleplaying considerations, because not everyone roleplays the same. When you're making an attack roll, however, everyone uses Str the same. A significant portion of DnD has always been about combat, and that's what the mechanics of the game are for, and why the books seem "roll" heavy. Roleplaying is left up to the players (thank goodness.)

If you want mechanics that tell you how to roleplay, well, isn't that really the definition of roll-play?

[/rant off]

About the Faldirin: If you'll notice for the core races, there are none which actually receive a bonus to a mental stat. Here, you've got a total of +6 to them. As Raven pointed out, despite the favored class, I'd make a Wizard out of one of these guys in a heart beat. Or a sorcerer, who'd have lots of extra skill points on top of his Cha bonus. +4 to Int is going to be a significant boost to spell DCs; I echo other posters recommendation of dropping that to +2.

Craft skills - note that the way you've worded it, despite seeming "powerful", the bonuses actually have have no mechanical benefit whatsoever. This is because magic items do not require any crafting skills to create, repair or improve. You just need a feat. Masterwork weapons and armor can be crafted with no intention of ever making them magic items. Other items don't even need to be masterwork, and could simply be purchased cheaply, with the item crafter never having to go near a Craft check. (a Broom of Flying, for instance.)

Also, I'd avoid giving the race a benefit which is really aimed at only one or two classes. To reflect the race's ability as artisians, perhaps they get a +2 bonus to two seperate Craft skills of their choice. (Equivalant of a +2/+2 skill feat.)

Who are these guys, anyway? Human, feyish, elven, ET's? That might suggest other abilities if you want to go +1 LA.

[Keth Durgan]

In order to help prevent them from going straight wizards and other such types, if the abilities were balanced well enough, what about making this race magically null? I was thinking of writing some more back story to them to explain that though none of them are able to innately use magic, they have established themselves as remarkable craftsmen.

As for the type of the race, my original image of them was of a vaguely feline humanoid. Think of a half-elf, and how similar they are to humans, then substitute cat features for the elven ones.

[Oneiros]

Keth Durgan, on Jul 3 2006, 12:21 PM, said:

In order to help prevent them from going straight wizards and other such types, if the abilities were balanced well enough, what about making this race magically null? I was thinking of writing some more back story to them to explain that though none of them are able to innately use magic, they have established themselves as remarkable craftsmen.

Well, considering that seven of the eleven core classes cast spells, I don't know if that's such a good idea. To quote the 3rd Edition mantra: "It's about options, not restrictions." Otherwise, you're going back to 1st Edition concepts like "elves can't be clerics".

If the stats are balanced (and by balanced I hope you mean dropping the Int bonus to only +2 ), there should be no need to put those sorts of restrictions on the race. As background, the race itself could simply not have an arcane magical tradition, but players are always wanting to take those sorts of things and turn them around ("I was a baby Faldirin left on the doorstep of a Wizard's college!")

[Rintaran]

Ok Oneiros, you got me with dwarves who balance their bonus with charisma. Though with elves (dex & con) and halflings (dex & str), its a physical stat balancing a physical stat, which makes that part of your argument void.

Next, I'd like you to pick up a character sheet and look down the skill lists. Charisma, Wisdom and Intelligence by far make up the bulk of the skill modifiers. Those three "lesser" scores are very important in the game, as important and they can very easily be used as often, or even more often, out of combat, as the strength stat is used in combat. In a single conversation, one has to deal with reaction checks, gather information checks, diplomacy checks, and possibly many other checks, most of which rely on Charisma or Intelligence, thus outside of combat, there are things mechanically that require those important mental stats to the same degree that Strength is required in combat, which is to say, not at all. It is just as easy to have a full combat scenario without a single Str mod coming into play, as it is to have some RP with NPCs without a single Cha mod coming into play.

Additionally, your argument that a strength penalty is only offset equally, and not by double its amount also points out the flaw in the system. If Str is so [darned] important, then shouldn't it be balanced double regardless of which way you put it? Fact is, Str is not nearly as important as WotC, heavy combat campaigns, and powergamers would have you believe.

Yes, stats and other mechanics shouldn't affect role-play excessively, however, the mechanics determine how much your character knows, how persuasive the character can be, and how foolish the character may be. These mental stats, skills, and basically all parts of the character sheet outside of the combat block, are WoTC's way of helping to craft a basic outline of the limits of the character in "role-play" terms. They are mechanizing role-play (or atleast role-play limits), whether you want to see it or not. They don't make you less able to role-play, but they express the limits of a character's mental capacity, thereby limiting the degree you could RP the character in that aspect. A character with a +2 Int isn't as smart as one with +4, and therefore, has a harder time learning things... These things make a big difference in how you role-play, though have nothing to do with your role-play ability (that's up to your own personal level of talent, or lack thereof).

This is why I say strength, or all the physical abilities, should be level with all the mental abilities. No 2:1 balancing ever.

...

Now back onto topic, I hadn't really noticed the unusability of that particular craft check, but the suggestions for specific craft skills still apply, as they were originally stated by Jimp.

[Oneiros]

Rintaran, on Jul 3 2006, 12:44 PM, said:

This is why I say strength, or all the physical abilities, should be level with all the mental abilities. No 2:1 balancing ever.

Okay, Rin... let's take this outside

...

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Now back onto topic, I hadn't really noticed the unusability of that particular craft check, but the suggestions for specific craft skills still apply, as they were originally stated by Jimp.

I kind of like my suggestion (go figure), that instead of the race having a bonus to specific Craft skills, the player can choose his own, reflecting a more versital culture of craftsmen.

[Keth Durgan]

Updated the post above with a newer version. I lowered the Int bonus and changed the craft bonus to allow for a little more versatility. Still working on some flavor text and a unique ability to help separate them from the rest of the races.

Keep the ideas and comments coming. They are much appreciated.