Races
In a given role-playing game, a race is a sentient species. A character can choose one race. Think Human, Dwarf, and Elf; those are the generic races in a fantasy game. In this particular fantasy game, of course, there are more than just those classic ones. Each race has its own advantages and perhaps slight disadvantages. Each race has a very different culture, but every group has a different culture as well.
The Culture
One thing we feel other RPGs have not succeeded at is achieving any sort of identity for different cultures, which is the one thing that can make the game feel real. For instance, in your generic RPG, the Humans are proud and dishonest. The Dwarf is obsessed with metal and lives underneath mountains. The Elf will live in woods and is aloof and mysterious. That's how it always is in any given fantasy game. But think about it for a short while, and you will quickly realize that this doesn't make sense. If an Elf lives in some Halfling port in the middle of some marshes on the coast of a large river where the people are open and non-mysterious, the Elf will have the character traits of a Halfling that lives in a port in the middle of some marshes on the coast of a large river and will be open and non-mysterious. The location may change his personality a bit because many people here were fishermen, or feared attacks from water elemental of the marshes. Maybe this elf hated the smell of fish, and gains a +2 bonus to attacking rolls against water elementals.
An in-game, combat or skill check related bonus needs to be approved by your GM, however, no matter how specific or worthless this bonus may seem.
Every race will have the same natural bonuses to skills, however. They simply may not have the same personality as everyone might think they have, with humans being proud, et cetera.
An in-game, combat or skill check related bonus needs to be approved by your GM, however, no matter how specific or worthless this bonus may seem.
Every race will have the same natural bonuses to skills, however. They simply may not have the same personality as everyone might think they have, with humans being proud, et cetera.
How Racial Modifiers work
When you look at each race, you'll see that at the bottom of the page it indicates Skill Modifiers and
Specific Skill Check Modifiers. A Skill Modifier is a constant bonus or unbonus to Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, Intellect, and Spirit. Every race will always have an overall +3 bonus to all their skills.
Examples:
A basic example would be having +3 Strength. This means that after you find your strength, you add your racial bonus to your strength. Another example would be having + 2 Stamina, + 1 Intellect. Another one would be having +1 Dexterity, +1 Spirit, and +1 to Strength.
Note that you really didn't have to read all that, it's just that we were explaining in a complicated way that you always have a +3 bonus to all your skills.
Now we just talked about Skill Modifiers. On to Specific Skill Check Modifiers. Sounds complicated, hm? Well it isn't. This is how it works.
Any given race will have 3 random bonuses to designated skills. Each of these 3 bonuses will give a + 2 bonus.
Take the Dwarf. They have a +2 to Climbing, a +2 to Exploration, and a +2 to Dungeoneering. The way it works is this:
Every time you make a check, as a dwarf, to climb up a thing, you roll your d10 as per normal. Then you add this to your strength, as per normal, which you further add to your stamina, as per normal. That would generally be your check to see if you climbed the thing or not. However, as a dwarf with +2 to climbing, you now add plus two to the whole thing.
And that's how it works.
EDIT: Removed negative modifiers.
Examples:
A basic example would be having +3 Strength. This means that after you find your strength, you add your racial bonus to your strength. Another example would be having + 2 Stamina, + 1 Intellect. Another one would be having +1 Dexterity, +1 Spirit, and +1 to Strength.
Note that you really didn't have to read all that, it's just that we were explaining in a complicated way that you always have a +3 bonus to all your skills.
Now we just talked about Skill Modifiers. On to Specific Skill Check Modifiers. Sounds complicated, hm? Well it isn't. This is how it works.
Any given race will have 3 random bonuses to designated skills. Each of these 3 bonuses will give a + 2 bonus.
Take the Dwarf. They have a +2 to Climbing, a +2 to Exploration, and a +2 to Dungeoneering. The way it works is this:
Every time you make a check, as a dwarf, to climb up a thing, you roll your d10 as per normal. Then you add this to your strength, as per normal, which you further add to your stamina, as per normal. That would generally be your check to see if you climbed the thing or not. However, as a dwarf with +2 to climbing, you now add plus two to the whole thing.
And that's how it works.
EDIT: Removed negative modifiers.