Races

Your race determines several of your starting statistics, and can influence your choices of skills and abilities. Most races also grant special abilities or restrictions separate from the normal skills and attributes. Select a race that suits your character concept and style of play.

Not all races will necessarily be available in your game. Ask your GM about any disallowed races, or additional choices that may be available for your campaign. The simplest races, generally available in all basic campaigns, are human, dwarf, feyborn, guidar, and lyorae. Alidran and niera can add some minor complexity, and amyu especially can disrupt the balance of the game with an unprepared GM or an inexperienced group.

Human

Humans are by far the most adaptable race, and are able to fit into nearly any facet of society. Adventuring humans are more common than adventurers of other races, and show few tendencies in skill choices. Because humans are generally fast learners, they tend to outstrip their non-human adventuring companions after a time.

Humans are as varied in profession and skills as they can be. Perhaps their only tendency is that they tend not to specialize in a single field as much as any other race, with each person learning multiple skills.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 10 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 10 + Lore
• Size: -2 to 2
• Early Start: You begin with an extra 25 XP to spend.
• Human Specialization: You gain a +1 bonus to a single attribute of your choice.
• Rapid Progress: The base XP cost of all abilities, skills, specializations, and spells is reduced by 20%.

Alidran

Alidran are a wild race, and live in forests, mountains, or less hospitable locations. They tend to be highly capable hunters, and have a natural ability with bows, aided by their keen eyesight. They are fleet of foot and quick to react to danger, but slow to let down their guard around others.

Alidran typically stand about four feet tall and weigh 60 to 90 pounds, with women slightly smaller than men. Their skin tones range through earthy browns and stony grays, up to a deep tan. Most alidran have short, thick, brown or moss green hair, occasionally decorated with leaves or flowers. They have pointed, narrow green or yellow eyes with large, black pupils, accenting their harsh, bony features.

Due to the harsh nature of their environments, alidran rarely live to old age, but those that do typically live between 100 and 150 years. An alidran reaches adulthood at about 25 years of age.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 14 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 8 + Lore
• Size: -4 to -2
• Attributes
  • Strength -1
  • Dexterity +1
  • Vitality -1
  • Speed +1
  • Reason -1
  • Perception +1
• Skills
  • Aim +1
  • Culture -2
  • Healing +1
  • Nature +2
  • Reflex +1
  • Stealth +2
  • Thievery +1
• Fleet of Foot: Your base movement rate is increased by 4.
• Infravision: You are able to see the approximate temperature of things you look at. Objects or creatures whose temperatures are significantly different from their surroundings stand out, granting you a +5 bonus to Perception checks to notice them. You can also use this ability to see in the dark to a limited extent, allowing you to treat complete darkness as shadowy, except that you cannot distinguish colors at all, only shapes. Any solid or liquid surface, including transparent ones like glass or water, block your infravision.
• Poison Resistance: You gain a +3 bonus to checks to resist the effects of poisons.
• Skilled Marksman: You treat all missile weapons as having a range increment 3 higher than normal. The maximum range remains the same.

Amyu

The amyu are a proud race of winged beings who generally keep to themselves and live their lives in high mountains. They are taller than most humans, but surprisingly light, averaging 6 to 7 feet in height and weighing about 110 to 150 pounds. They tend to have well-toned muscles from their frequent flight, but at the same time are physically fragile due to their brittle bones. Amyu skin, hair, and eye colors are as varied as humans'. Their wings are feathered, and may be white, brown, black, tawny, or other similar colors. A rare few are bright reds, blues, or yellows, similar to those of natural bird species. When fully spread, their wingspans average about double their height, but they can be folded up behind the back so as to add less than a foot in width. Amyu are inherently magical beings, but the only manifestation of this power is their limited ability of flight.

In their isolation, the amyu have come to better understand nature and the world around them. They keep a close eye on the dealings of the other dominant races in the lands below, but rarely interfere. Amyu usually live for 250-300 years, but unlike other long-lived races, they achieve adulthood early, at only about age 20. They then age slowly, living in their prime until they are about 200 years old. This results in an impressive collective knowledge and wisdom base.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 12 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 12 + Lore
• Size: -2 to 1
• Attributes
  • Dexterity -1
  • Vitality -1
  • Lore +1
  • Perception +1
• Skills
  • Acrobatics -2
  • Arcana +1
  • Athletics +2
  • Culture +1
  • Healing +2
  • Reflex -1
  • Resistance +1
  • Stealth -1
• Flight: You may hover in place or fly, provided that you have a space at least 5 yards wide to spread your wings and are not overloaded. Flying costs 3 stamina per round. If you are encumbered, the encumbrance penalty applies as an increase to the stamina cost per round. Your movement rate is halved if flying upwards and doubled if diving downwards. If your flight ends while you are still in the air, you fall and take damage as if you fell from the position where your flight ended.
• Slow Fall: You can use your wings to fall gently to the ground. If you are unencumbered or lightly encumbered and are able to spread your wings during the fall, any wounds received from the fall have their severity reduced to light before applying your Dex [Acrobatics/Tumbling] check to reduce the wounds further. If you are moderately encumbered, the severity is instead reduced to moderate. You cannot slow your fall when heavily encumbered or overloaded.

Dwarf

Dwarves are are typically 4 to 4½ feet tall, with a stocky build, weighing about as much as a typical human. They have ruddy cheeks, dark eyes and hair, and medium to dark earthy skin tones. They are naturally slower and more thoughtful in nature, yet still quick to anger. Dwarves have adapted to life underground in darkness, and are able to see even in pitch-black. They are naturally tough, and are able to take considerably more damage than many of the other races. Dwarves naturally inhibit magic within their own bodies, making it difficult for them to learn magic but also helping them resist hostile effects.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 15 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 5 + Lore
• Size: -3 to -1
• Attributes
  • Strength +1
  • Vitality +1
  • Speed -1
  • Perception -1
• Skills
  • Acrobatics -1
  • Arcana -2
  • Culture +1
  • Deception -1
  • Investigation +1
  • Mechanics +1
  • Nature -1
  • Persuasion -1
  • Resistance +1
  • Stealth -1
• Deepvision: You treat complete darkness as dim light and all other light as one step brighter than it is. After spending 10 minutes in moderate light or brighter, this ability is lost until you spend another 10 minutes in dim light or darker.
• Innately Nonmagical: You must invest or spend double the normal mana for anything that normally requires mana.
• Knowledge of the Earth: You are familiar with all types of stone, gems, and metals. Whenever you make a Lore, Reason, or Perception check to learn something about one of these things, you gain a +2 bonus to the check.
• Magic Resistance: You gain a +2 bonus to all defenses against magical effects.
• Strength of Stone: You treat your Strength score as 1 point higher when determining encumbrance.

Feyborn

The feyborn are children of human women who conceived through the magical interference of a member of the fey. The ill-natured fey will typically prey on a woman in a loving relationship, coming to her in her sleep and using its magic to begin the process, then watching from the shadows as her unexpected pregnancy is discovered and the relationship falls apart. The pregnancy lasts only 6 months, after which the child is born and the fey father generally loses interest if he hasn't already.

The magical nature of the fey suffuses the feyborn's entire body. Feyborn look much like their human mothers, but often exhibit unusual traits, such as unnaturally bright eye or hair colors, a slight blue, green, or milky white tint to their skin, or slightly pointed ears and eyes. They are also unusually light and slender, and while they typically grow to be almost as tall as their mothers, they weigh only half as much as a normal human of their size. Feyborn grow and mature at the same rate as humans, but can live upwards of 200 years.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 9 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 14 + Lore
• Size: -3 to 0
• Attributes
  • Strength -1
  • Vitality -1
  • Speed +1
  • Persona +1
• Skills
  • Arcana +2
  • Stealth +1
• Arcane Senses: You have a connection to the magic that flows around you. You are able to detect the presence of magical objects and creatures merely by passing within 6 yards, along with a general direction and strength of the magic. You can pinpoint the source if you are within 1 yard of it.
• Magical Blood: You know one level 1 spell of your choice from the Innate school and can cast it at will by spending 1 mana per casting + 1 stamina per charge.
• Quick Learner: The base XP cost of all skills and specializations is reduced by 20%.

Guidar

The guidar are a large, tough race reminiscent of the stony mountains in which they dwell. Their features seem almost chiseled out of the rock, and their skin tones range from brown to gray, sometimes with natural striations of other colors mixed in. They have little hair, and tend to keep what they do have trimmed very short or shaved. Guidar stand between 7 and 10 feet tall and typically weigh between 400 and 800 lbs. They can live upwards of 150 years, and reach adulthood at around age 20.

Guidar are strong and fit, but slow and somewhat lacking in coordination due to their clumsy, overly-large hands. They tend to lead simple lives, tending their rocky farmlands and hunting or gathering food to survive. They are well-suited to living outdoors unprotected, and rarely tire.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 13 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 9 + Lore
• Size: 1 to 4
• Attributes
  • Strength +1
  • Dexterity -1
  • Vitality +1
  • Speed -1
  • Reason -1
  • Perception +1
• Skills
  • Acrobatics -1
  • Aim -1
  • Athletics +2
  • Culture -1
  • Deception -1
  • Mechanics -2
  • Melee +1
  • Nature +1
  • Reflex -1
  • Resistance +2
• Short Sleeper: You require one hour less of sleep each day.
• Tough skin: You are used to conditions that most would find too uncomfortable. You ignore the irritating property of armor, take 2 less fatigue if you sleep while encumbered, and can recover fatigue as normal during a long rest if lightly or moderately encumbered.
• Untiring: You are resistant to the effects of exhaustion and stamina depletion. You do not become exhausted until your fatigue is at least equal to your normal maximum stamina, and you cannot become staggered as a result of fatigue.

Lyorae

The lyorae are the product of an ancient wizard's experiments, which resulted in a mix between humans and cats. Since then, lyorae have spread across the inhabited lands, but are still fairly uncommon and tend to live in secluded forests or mountains.

Pointed cat ears protrude from the tops of their heads, varying greatly in size, and all lyorae have a long, catlike tail. The amount of the body covered with fur varies between individuals. Some have fur over their entire bodies, while others have fur only on the forearms and lower legs. Fur length varies as well, but the average is just under an inch long, with normal human hair on the head. Males cannot grow any normal facial hair, but both males and females have several whiskers. Color patterns vary as much as they do in cat species, from all black to all white, or orange with brown spots, or almost any other color pattern. Lyorae are slightly shorter than humans, males averaging 5 to 5½ feet tall, and females about six inches shorter. They can weigh anywhere from 80 to 130 pounds in general. Lyorae reach maturity around age 9, and can live about 50-60 years. Older lyorae maintain their youthful features, and only a few even gain any wrinkles before they die.

Lyorae are graceful beings, and tend to be both fleet of foot and intelligent. Physically fragile, lyorae tend to avoid direct combat, preferring to plan ambushes and attack from a distance when combat is necessary. Lyorae have keen eyesight and hearing, as well as exceptional balance and jumping abilities. On the other hand, they dislike water and tend to be poor swimmers.

Most lyorae have rather playful tendencies, and they enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. If threatened, however, they can become extremely vicious and are able to employ their sharp claws in their defense.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 8 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 11 + Lore
• Size: -3 to 0
• Attributes
  • Dexterity +1
  • Vitality -1
  • Speed +1
  • Lore -1
  • Reason +1
  • Perception +1
  • Persona -1
• Skills
  • Acrobatics +2
  • Culture -2
  • Deception +1
  • Investigation -1
  • Mechanics -1
  • Healing -1
  • Nature +1
  • Reflex +1
  • Resistance -1
  • Stealth +2
  • Thievery +1
• Agile Movements: You may use either your Acrobatics or Athletics skill when jumping or climbing, whichever is higher.
• Claws: You have sharp claws on the ends of your fingers. You may treat an empty hand as a light weapon with the slicing property and the following statistics: 0 accuracy, Low block, 0-1 reach, and 1d4 damage.
• Long Sleeper: You require an additional hour of sleep each day.
• Natural Climber: You gain a +3 bonus to all Acrobatics or Athletics checks made to climb.
• Nightvision: You treat all light sources as having double their normal range. Shadowy and dim ambient light are treated as one step brighter.
• Soft Landing: When you attempt to reduce damage from a fall, each reduction in wound level costs only 1 point from your Dex [Acrobatics/Tumbling] check result instead of 2.
• Water Aversion: You have a -3 penalty to all checks while swimming or underwater and a -1 penalty to all checks while soaked (such as from heavy rain or after coming out of a pool of water).

Niera

Niera inhabit deep forests, lush valleys, and other regions overflowing with bounteous nature. They use their magical talents to shape the land they live in in order to create a place hospitable to their kind. They have soft, rounded features, except for their long and elegant fingers, well-suited for fine craftsmanship. They average 5½ to 7 feet tall, and weigh from 150 to 450 pounds. They can live upwards of 700 years, and reach adulthood around 125.

Niera are natural spellcasters, and find harnessing magic less tiresome than other races, allowing them to cast more powerful spells more frequently. However, they are physically fragile and tend to tire easily in other activities.

Game Statistics

• Base Stamina: 6 + Vitality
• Base Mana: 16 + Lore
• Size: -1 to 3
• Attributes
  • Strength -1
  • Dexterity +1
  • Vitality -1
  • Lore +1
  • Reason +1
  • Perception -1
• Skills
  • Arcana +2
  • Athletics -1
  • Culture +2
  • Investigation +1
  • Mechanics +1
  • Nature +2
  • Persuasion +1
• Font of Magic: As long as you have invested at least 1 mana into an object, you treat it as having 1 more total mana than it actually does. All spells and abilities that require mana require 1 less mana than normal, to a minimum of 1.
• Life Sense: You have a deep connection to the forces of life around you. When you look at a creature within 5 yards, you can immediately tell if it is alive, dead, or undead. Additionally, as an action (AP Cost 8), you can sense mana in your surroundings. When you do so, you become aware of the strongest unfamiliar concentration of mana within 50 yards, sensing the closest one first in the event of a tie, and learn the approximate direction and distance towards it and whether it originated from a living or undead creature. You also sense all familiar mana sources within range, learning the same information about each. Once you have detected a mana source in this way, it becomes familiar to you. Each source has its own distinct signature that can be recognized the same way you might recognize a person on sight or an area by smell.
• Nature's Healing: You are at home in the wilderness. When resting outside in an area with significant natural vegetation, such as a forest, you gain the benefits of a long rest in half the standard time. You can still only benefit from a long rest twice per day.