What do you want the other race(s) to be?

[TheMufflon]

What do you want the other race(s) to be?

 

Subjugated!

 

Oh, sorry; I though this was the slavery thread.

 

On a serious note all I really want for races is for Obsidian to stay away from the usual clichés. If I had my way there wouldn't be an elf or a dwarf as far as the eye could see, but since they seem to be "in" already all I can hope for is that the elves won't be aloof archers that live the the woods and that the dwarves wont be drunk Scotsmen with big beards. Also, races whose defining characteristic is that they are an anthropomorphic animals are all terrible.

 

I also think that your choice of race should matter in the game. Picking "Elf" during character creation should mean more than just being a human with pointy ears and a slightly higher dexterity.

 

EDIT: Idea for a race I'd like to see: Changeling!

Edited September 24, 2012 by TheMufflon

[Zero]

Reading Changeling reminded me of Doppleganger...even though they aren't at all similar.

 

I could see a Doppleganger or a Shapechanger on a minor scale (think Mystique, I would throw in another example but it would be a spoiler) being interesting. But I don't think implementation in a rewarding fashion would be realistic- that is to say having people and the world react to your different changes in a meaningful way. The best one could probably do is add a slight stealth bonus and probably a one off comment or so.

[Monkcrab]

Modron-likes! But they're probably hard to do, unless there's a God of Pedantry somewhere making them as his race or something.

 

Insects that go through different stages in their lives, and their personalities change as they do? We've seen a lot of ants and bees, but how about dragonflies? Solitary predators that fly. Intelligent and sentient. Shrewd and cunning. Builds no home. They'll eat anything outside walls, but once in a while they come down to cities to discuss philosophy because flying and eating all the time is boring. They're existentialists, even. The guy discussing the beauty of the world in the bar with you might just apologize nicely and try to eat your entrails when you meet him again outside because hey, it's food, it's not personal?

 

I'd love to see what Obsidian means by races that are truly alien, though. I don't think they lack imagination in this regard.

[hideo kuze]

We could even have races of constructs, or the undead, or fairies.

 

I'm not sure about fairies... But I like the idea of constructs and even undead. I'm just not sure if it would work.

What good RPGs have implemented these as playable races?

 

 

edit:

but what exactly is an undead race anyway?

a skeleton? (if so then from which race? doesn't make sense)

a zombie? (so tired of seeing zombies everywhere, even though I don't even play those games or watch those shows)

a vampire? (wouldn't it strip away its powerful figure?)

Edited September 24, 2012 by hideo kuze

[Luckmann]

I've always been a fan of trans-kobolds.

Only if I get Gyrognome.

[Monkcrab]

 

edit:

but what exactly is an undead race anyway?

a skeleton? (if so then from which race? doesn't make sense)

a zombie? (so tired of seeing zombies everywhere, even though I don't even play those games or watch those shows)

a vampire? (wouldn't it strip away its powerful figure?)

 

A race that, although once alive like any regular joe, has accidentally undead'd themselves through an accidental magic experiment/explosion/THING on a genocidal scale? As a result, they're all centuries-old and decaying with a sentient mind screaming inside their heads, unable to die but unable to live, there are no children, no hope, and not even antidepressants work because no functional biological systems? Everyone thinks they're gigantic downers and oh god they smell, but they're invaluable as advisors due to having The Long View?

 

tl;dr, a whole race of undescribed sentients that accidentally turned themselves into liches?

[eimatshya]

Yeah, I've been thinking about the possibility of a construct race, too. I know Eberron has a construct race called the Warforged, but having never played an Eberron campaign, I don't know much about them.

 

One possibility for such a race would be that they were constructs created in some magocratic nation to serve as laborers. To make them more capable, their creators imbued them with increasing levels of intelligence and animacy. Still, they remained submissive and obedient due to their soulless nature. Then, strangely, souls started being reborn into the bodies of the constructs. The precise reason for this would be a topic of debate amongst scholars and theorists. Did the increased sapience of the constructs make them viable vessels for souls? Did the gods do it as a punishment for the mage's hubris in creating life, a power the gods considered theirs alone? Whatever the case, now that they were imbued with souls many of the constructs developed the willpower and desire to resist their masters and found their own societies. Others chose to remain in their subservient posts, seeing the security offered as preferable to the uncertain future that awaited their brethren who sought to carve out a new place for themselves in a dangerous world.

 

Alternately, it may have been necessary for the mages to give the constructs souls in order to animate their lifeless husks.

 

Anyway, it might be an interesting race to explore. Are they a dying race due to their inability to reproduce? Or have they discovered the method to make new constructs that will be imbued with souls, thereby allowing them to make their own children? If not, do they turn to stealing the souls of members of other races and placing them in new constructs? How would they view biological beings? Do they have societal splits as a result of differing opinions on this issue? How cohesive are their societies? Do they work well together or are they individualistic (or do they not have any predisposition towards either)? Or maybe they would be too much like a machine race from Sci-fi; I don't know.

Edited September 24, 2012 by eimatshya

[Naurgalen]

Undead (i prefer if they are ethereal vs zombi like) or Modrons-Constructs have REAL interesting concepts in a game like this cause the firsts lost his souls (if not, they will reincarnate) and the seconds doesn't have one to begin.

[Volourn]

Pixies! For ****s and giggles!

 

We're at 5 races now but that might be increased depending on what they add to the enahnced kickstarter goals.

[horocaust]

What doesn't stop to continue to amaze me is that people really think dev team would actually consider their ideas. Really, the amount of threads with people proposing various additions and tweaks is astonishing. Yet I would be surprised if a single idea actually made it to development stage, not to mention the game itself.

That said, I'd really, really like snake folk. I'm all about snakes. Nagas, lamias, gorgons, I can't have enough of it. I hope there will be some at least as NPCs or in future games of the franchise.

Also, insect race, if done well, might turn out to be very, very good, if their alienness is explored and played for all it's worth.

[khango]

I've seen other threads on Project Eternity's races, but they seem to all be arguments over whether or not to have Elves and Dwarves. So, since it sounds like Project Eternity will have Elves and Dwarves, what would you like the other race or races to be? So far we have Human, Elf, Dwarf, and possibly the Godlike. That's four out of the five playable races. What else would you like to see?

 

They've mentioned the possibility of an insect race; personally, I'm not that interested in having one. I've seen interesting insect races in some pen and paper games (Ashen Stars and Dark Sun), but I'm not sure an insect race really fits a medieval Europe themed setting (assuming that's what we are going to get with P:E). I would like the races to fit the world (although I suppose there could be parts of P:E's world where giant sapient insects would feel more appropriate). I liked all the bizarre races that we had in Planescape, but they seemed appropriate in the setting. I think the bizarre factor needs to be toned down in a more conventional setting (i.e. European inspired fantasy).

 

Anyway, I think it might be interesting for the fifth race to be people who were born with souls that had somehow carried with them traces of their previous incarnations' deaths (maybe only in instances where the deaths were especially traumatic). As such, the soul would taint the new incarnation with an element of death, meaning that, while technically a member of their parent's race, these beings would be part mortal and part undead. This would leave them pale and sickly looking but would give them extended lifespans and heightened immunity to diseases and death magic. Their connection to death would also give them a greater sensitivity to the souls of others. Perhaps they could tell whether the soul was whole, fragmented, awakened, etc. This sensitivity would also make them more aware of the presence of concealed individuals (bonus to perception checks to spot hiding or invisible people) and possibly of ghosts, if they exist in this setting. Due to their cadaverous appearance, they might have penalties to social interaction, especially in societies in which they were stigmatized.

 

I'm not really sure what to call them, the Deathborn? Deathwalkers? I got the idea from the Shade race in Shadowbane, so maybe they could be called that, although that would probably be a copyright violation.

 

http://shadowbaneemu...hp?d=4&n=Shades

 

I suppose these wouldn't be a "race", so to speak, since their condition wouldn't be hereditary and their offspring, assuming they aren't all sterile, would probably be normal members of their grandparents' race (unless they had the misfortune to be born with a tainted soul, as well).

 

If Obsidian decides to go with something more traditional, I would be interested in playing a member of a stereotypically brutish race like an Orc, Troll, or Minotaur (the Minotaurs in Shadowbane were pretty cool).

 

Anyway, what ideas do you guys have for the fifth race?

 

I think a race of giant beetles would be cool and not out of place for Europe-ish fantasy.

Neither would a praying mantis-ish race.

Or a pill-bug-ish race.

 

I think the issue with insectoid races is mostly that it's hard to make them compelling as characters while keeping them different enough to truly be foreign. It can be done, but the easy thing to do is just make them super-specialized and mostly act like a human. I could see some really weird quests coming out of insects.

 

Something kind of related that might be important is whether souls migrate species/racially.

[kenup]

How about wookies? Wookies are awesome! ^^

 

 

lol

 

NOOoooOOooOOOOoooooooOO!!!!!1!1!one!

 

Each one having its benefits and negatives perhaps, and these showing up even at the later stages. Which, IMHO, means that they shouldn't be restricted to +x points to y stat. And since it was already brought up, no pallet swap(though I doubt we will have to worry about it) and perhaps some more "alien" races.

[horocaust]

Now, a little rant.

While I have faith in the dev team and believe that they can make a masterpiece out of anything, I'm very disappointed with their choice of including elves and dwarfs. Not to mention that it has been done to death decades ago, these 'races' simply aren't distinct enough. Elves are just slender people with pointy years, dwarves are just stocky Norwegians with puffy beards, and even if they would be played differently that still wouldn't change the fact that they're just humans with minor cosmetic changes. Yes, they could be made magical, they could be made long-lived, but the same thing can be done with a group of humans. There just really isn't any sensible reason to take an ethos, give them magical abilities and pointy ears and call them a different species, especially if it comes to the territory when such races can interbreed. If you want magical gypsies, then make magical gypsies instead of breeding entities. What's worse, it could and often does degenerate into planet of hats setup where all members of a race are the same, just according to ethnic stereotypes, like in Dragon Age, when humans have counterparts to various real cultures, but dwarves, elves and especially kossith were all the same when they weren't like humans. It's really like a different race instead of a different species. Now, if they were included as subraces of humanity that would be great, that would be awesome and it'd add diversity without simultaneously taking it away. But as is, it's just sad.

[Zero]

What doesn't stop to continue to amaze me is that people really think dev team would actually consider their ideas. Really, the amount of threads with people proposing various additions and tweaks is astonishing.

 

I suspect most are doing it for fun as opposed to actively thinking they are influencing the game in any real meaningful way. At best the devs have some free time and peeps can entertain them at worst they ignore them completely and people are just bouncing ideas off each other *shrugs*

[Monte Carlo]

From Arduin (check it out, completely gonzo and full of fabulous ideas) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduin ...

 

I give you...

 

• Phraint—amoral, logical grasshopper/mantis humanoids who were noted for their acrobatic, leaping attacks where they would throw a javelin at the apogee of their jump, flip over their opponent, and strike from behind with a two handed sword.
  
• Deodanth—loosely based on Jack Vance's Deodands, these were interstellar refugee, matriarchal, vampiric catlike elves.
  
• Kobbit—half kobold, half hobbit. They were good with slings, and somehow figured out a way to poison sling bullets.
  
• Throon—four armed giant, loosely based on four armed Green Martians from Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter novels. They were fierce warriors and expert jugglers
  

 

I absolutely loved the Phraints. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=IB3&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1920&bih=1096&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=BcmSqx86i9ACiM:&imgrefurl=https://profiles.google.com/112496081196492342580/buzz/3DqvJdi9nFN&docid=3pM1IgJWRM6sKM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lpL870wV2A4/TI65USyVmkI/AAAAAAAAFNY/roqYXFFIofM/s1600/AGIfrontcover.jpg&w=1069&h=1600&ei=3_lfUKf1Osi40QXkl4Bw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=316&sig=108459245318143528918&page=1&tbnh=116&tbnw=78&start=0&ndsp=66&ved=1t:429,r:28,s:0,i:157&tx=47&ty=38

[TheMufflon]

What doesn't stop to continue to amaze me is that people really think dev team would actually consider their ideas. Really, the amount of threads with people proposing various additions and tweaks is astonishing.

 

That said, I'd really, really like snake folk.

 

Cognitive dissonance: the post.

Edited September 24, 2012 by TheMufflon

[horocaust]

I didn't make a proposal. I just said what I'd like to see. I don't really think my ideas are worth as much as seriously considering them.

Edited September 24, 2012 by horocaust

[Shades]

I'm going to be annoying and say I want to see half-breeds Of course I would love a category that had a variety of different ones (any equivalent or tieflings or aasimar could also fit under such a category as they are mixed too) but it seems like a waste.

 

Rather than using one of the race slots for them though they could just be another subrace under each main race. Say if you chose Humans - Half-elf you'd have a half-elf that used a human model, or Elves - Half-elf would use an elven model (I think half-elves in BG always used the elf models). To save clutter each race could simply have something like a Mixed blood subrace option where you could then specify.

 

I'm very interested in seeing how different and varied the subraces will be for each race and I'm hoping to see some equally intriguing new races taking up those two additional slots.

[Monte Carlo]

I think there will be robots.

[IchigoRXC]

Hippo people. There are just not enough anthropomorphic hippos in games these days.

[Starglider]

Hippo people. There are just not enough anthropomorphic hippos in games these days.

 

Heh another Spelljammer fan.

[Kissamies]

Completely nonhumanoid species have been done in fantasy setting, but I think it would still be pretty non-traditional and unique. However, implementing would be a little trickier since they shouldn't be able to use all the same equipment, at least not armor, as humanoids.

[Gorth]

Completely nonhumanoid species have been done in fantasy setting, but I think it would still be pretty non-traditional and unique. However, implementing would be a little trickier since they shouldn't be able to use all the same equipment, at least not armor, as humanoids.

Bah, my gelatinous cube protagonist won't need armour, I'll just wobble and then cover you in corrosive acid. Yeah, I won't need swords either!

 

Obviously I'm joking, but it could be interesting to see something other than biped characters. Heck, a banshee or an invisible friend would be a nice change.

[horocaust]

Making armour available for members of distinctly non-humanoid races is easy, just go Torment route and make everyone protect themselves with ink. Now that's a badass protection means if there ever was one.

On that note, I hope there will be lots of unusual inventory slots. It was simply beautiful when TNO could use replace his eyes. Now, while I doubt that there would be things like that in Eternity, having slots for earrings and tattoos would be nice.

[hideo kuze]

Undead (i prefer if they are ethereal vs zombi like) or Modrons-Constructs have REAL interesting concepts in a game like this cause the firsts lost his souls (if not, they will reincarnate) and the seconds doesn't have one to begin.

 

 

mmm...

constructs that have no soul

constructs that want to be human humanoid well, you get my point

constructs that are searching for a soul (reference: Wizard of Oz)

constructs that are willing to kill and cope with dark magic so that they can be imbued with a soul... so that they have access to magic too and be able to have feelings (cheesy I know)

 

IMO this has room for a lot of cool questions and scenarios.

It kind of opens the philosophical debate of what it means to be human and have rights (pro tip: AI and robots)... in the middle ages

 

p.c.

 

But I still want a matriarchal race damn it!

 

 

What doesn't stop to continue to amaze me is that people really think dev team would actually consider their ideas. Really, the amount of threads with people proposing various additions and tweaks is astonishing. Yet I would be surprised if a single idea actually made it to development stage, not to mention the game itself.

It seems Sawyer only checks the Tropes vs Women thread

Is there any dev out there? *there* *there* *there*

We feel lonely! *lonely* *lonely* *lonely*

 

 

Now, a little rant.

While I have faith in the dev team and believe that they can make a masterpiece out of anything, I'm very disappointed with their choice of including elves and dwarfs. Not to mention that it has been done to death decades ago, these 'races' simply aren't distinct enough. Elves are just slender people with pointy years, dwarves are just stocky Norwegians with puffy beards, and even if they would be played differently that still wouldn't change the fact that they're just humans with minor cosmetic changes. Yes, they could be made magical, they could be made long-lived, but the same thing can be done with a group of humans. There just really isn't any sensible reason to take an ethos, give them magical abilities and pointy ears and call them a different species, especially if it comes to the territory when such races can interbreed. If you want magical gypsies, then make magical gypsies instead of breeding entities. What's worse, it could and often does degenerate into planet of hats setup where all members of a race are the same, just according to ethnic stereotypes, like in Dragon Age, when humans have counterparts to various real cultures, but dwarves, elves and especially kossith were all the same when they weren't like humans. It's really like a different race instead of a different species. Now, if they were included as subraces of humanity that would be great, that would be awesome and it'd add diversity without simultaneously taking it away. But as is, it's just sad.

I think that they simply went with those 3 traditional first to be able to draw into the game a less "hardcore" audience. So they're just winking.

But I'm sure they'll give those races some interesting twists, at the very least at the sub-race level.

Edited September 24, 2012 by hideo kuze