TSR-East: Tentative Races

This is still a work in flux. I'm not sure I want so many races, actually. I only included Dragonborn and Changelings (Tieflings with the serial numbers filed off so they don't have to all be demonic) for my son who was playing a Dragonborn Cleric in my West Marches game (who then switched to a Half-Orc Paladin character anyway) and 3 players playing Tieflings.

Now that two of the three Tieflings are gone with the switch from 5E to Classic (and the other is a "Fairy Princess"), and my wife and sons are living in America for the time being (I'm still in Korea for work purposes), I could easily drop them. Goldie the Fairy Princess can be her own thing. Since my son and the other girl who played West Marches are out, Goldie's player doesn't have as much fun in the games anymore anyway. So for regular TSR, I could get rid of them and just be back to the AD&D 1E racial line-up.

For TSR-East, I've of course got Humans. And a few demi-humans can be fun. Flying Swordsmen has only humans (because Dragon Fist only had humans), while Chanbara has some in the appendices as optional.

I still haven't figured out maximum levels in each class yet. I'm pretty sure I'll stick to race and class, rather than race-as-class just because I don't want to add more classes at this point, and I don't want to "remove" a class by making it a demi-human class. Humans should be able to be any of the classes currently developed for the game. So we'll have six races counting humans (probably) which is still fewer than I'd have with TSR-West if I remove the Dragonborn and Changeling.

And who knows, in a month or two, I might decide that more is better, and write up Kappas and Hengeyokais and whatnot!

Also, I decided to go ahead and stick with Vanara as a racial name (from 3E OA) since that's a race of demi-humans from Indian mythology. Instead of ignoring the subcontinent and SE Asia, I should use this as an opportunity to learn more about them and add elements to the game inspired by their cultures. 

Here's what I've got so far (and remember, this is still very much subject to change):

Races

Human: Humans have no special requirements, can be any class, and have no level limits.

Survival: When rolling for hit points, roll twice and take the higher result.

Languages: Common, plus any one other language

Dokkaebi: Savage-looking humanoids with red, blue, green or orange skin standing 7’ tall.

Minimum Scores: 9 Strength

Allowed Classes: Hwarang, Mudang, Ronin, Sohei, Xia

Senses: Dokkaebi can detect evil intentions (as the detect evil spell) on a 1-2/d6. They hear noises on a 1-2/d6.

Languages: Common, Oni 

Koropokkuru: Superstitious and reclusive dwarves that stand 3’ tall.

Minimum Scores: 9 Constitution

Allowed Classes: Hwarang, Mudang, Ronin, Wushi, Yakuza

Senses: Koropokkuru have 60’ infravision. They hear noises on a 1-2/d6.

Combat Bonus: Against larger than man-sized creatures, Koropokkuru receive +2 AC.

Languages: Common, Koropokkuru 

Spirit Born: Spirit-creatures reared as human, and appearing as humans.

Minimum Scores: 9 Charisma

Allowed Classes: Hwarang, Ninja, Ronin, Sohei, Wushi

Gift: Spirit Born gain a +2 bonus to Retainer Reaction checks to hire retainers. Retainers and henchmen of Spirit Born have +1 to Morale.

Languages: Common, Spirit, plus any one other language

Tengu: Crow-headed humanoids that stand 5’ to 6’ tall.

Minimum Scores: 9 Wisdom

Allowed Classes: Hwarang, Ronin, Sohei, Xia

Senses: Tengu have 60’ infravision.

Heritage: Tengu have small wings that allow them to glide 20’ horizontally for every 10’ of elevation they start from, and reduce falling damage by half.

Languages: Common, Tengu, Spirit

Vanara: Simian humanoids that stand 4’ to 5’ tall.

Minimum Scores: 9 Dexterity

Allowed Classes: Mudang, Ninja, Ronin, Xia, Yakuza

Senses: Vanara hear noises on a 1-2/d6.

Climbing: Vanara can climb trees, rough walls, etc at normal speed. They can climb sheer surfaces at ¼ speed on a 1-5/d6.

Languages: Common, Vanara