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Friday, November 28, 2014

OD&D Races & Classes for PCs & NPCs 003

Over on Dragonsfoot morikahn wrote:

Humanoid monsters are formed through abiogenesis. Just like in Lord of the Rings, orcs come from mud and slime. This is the leading reason why they are at odds with player character races.

* Some races pop into existence when the right conditions occur, but can then carry on their race through normal means. Members of these races tend to be less belligerent towards other lifeforms as they have developed inside a semi-nurturing social structure. Centaurs are like this for example.


* Some races, like orcs, form as fully fledged adults. They have no concept of family or rearing children. They rarely show any empathy towards other lifeforms and respond well only to signs of strength. This is what makes them so dangerous: they are mostly psychopaths.


* Females can form for races that do not breed normally, but will be sterile. Female ogres for example

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One of the side benefits of this type of structure is that as a DM I never have to worry about players raiding an orc village then having an emotional dilemma about what to do with the defenseless orc children. There ARE no orc children. It also means creatures can pop up in weird locations and don't need to follow standard ecology.

For my purposes I am re-writing and using it as follows:


Humanoid monsters are formed through abiogenesis; however, IMCs this is an unnatural process and it the interaction of Chaos and Evil acting on the slime, muck, manure and decayed things giving rise to the spontaneous appearance of the humanoid monsters (Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, Bugbears, Ogres and Trolls). This is the leading reason why they are at odds with player character races and why they are implacable foes and can never be redeemed. Sometimes it is possible for the PCs to bluff and bargain their way out of situations if the monsters are not confident of victory.

* Some races that can then carry on their race through normal means tend to be less belligerent towards other lifeforms as they have developed inside a nurturing or semi-nurturing social structure. These races did not arise through abiogenesis and Centaurs are an example.


* Some races, like Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, Bugbears, Ogres and Trolls, form as fully fledged adults. They have no concept of family or rearing children, since they have no families or children. They rarely show any empathy towards other lifeforms and respond well only to signs of strength. This is what makes them so dangerous: they are mostly psychopaths.


* Females can form for races that do not breed normally, but will be sterile. Female ogres for example.

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