Ancestries & Heritages

The first step in designing your character is to determine what race of being you wish to be, and what cultural heritage belonging to that race will be yours. Race and Culture will for the basis for your character's backstory - the "where your people came from" part of your history. It will not fully define your place in the world, but it will start to shape the characteristics (and game stats) that define your character.

There are twelve Player Character races from which to choose: Catfolk, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Goblins, Halflings, Humans, Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Orcs, Ratfolk and Tengu. Each of these has a unique history on Cartyrion that may be different from that found in other campaign settings, so it is important that you familiarize yourself with their unique characteristics here.

Taken together, all twelve of these races are referred to as "the Folk". All of these player races have the Humanoid Trait. This simply means they have a torso supported by two legs, have two arms with fingered hands attached at the shoulders, and a head on top. Some have tails. Some have vestigal wings. Some have claws instead of fingernails. For the most part, none of them can fly... or burrow... or breathe underwater indefinitely, although some exceptional individuals may possess these skills after some fashion. All are designed to be equally playable as far as game mechanics are concerned. Each has a unique flavor with certain characteristics stronger than avearge, and others weaker than average. Each has different factors contributing to personality. Variety is what makes for excitement in roleplaying, and the choices of race are designed to encourage that variety.