Itt: non-cliche and/or non-standard fantasy races

lel xD they're hyenas dat talk liek dis and they have a society where meems are the currency XDDDDDDDDD

>The Yellow People, dooks

Scarecrows. A construct race that might conceivably not be played as generic robots?

Best part of DA's setting

HORNED PEOPLE THAT ARENT DEMONS
ALSO TOTALLY NOT TIEFLINGS OR DRANEI SHUT UP THEIR MY OWN UNIQUE THING

NOBLE SAVAGE ANIMAL FOLK
WOW THEYRE NOT FURRY OK THEYRE BADASS AND WOLF HEADED FOREST PEOPLE ARE WAY TOTALLY LESS CLICHE THAN POINTY EARED FOREST PEOPLE

NOW IM GOING TO BITCH ABOUT HOW STUPID AND POINTLESS HALFINGS AND GNOMES ARE BUT CHECK OUT MY TOTALLY SICK MOUSEKIN THEYRE SHORT LITTLE RODENT PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN HOLES AND STEAL THINGS

WHY ARENT YOU GUYS AS CREATIVE AS ME I BET YOU PLAY WHITE MALES

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Humanoid animals are great races though.

I personally make all the humanoid animal races one unified 'race' though, just called Beastmen. Kind of generic but useful and makes it a lot easier to stat them then trying to create a unique race for cats, rats, bats, dogs and hogs, etc.

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>Slothpeople

i will never stop crusading that Warcraft trolls are some form of Slothmen at some level of their evolution until I'm hired as Blizzard writer.

The self-transforming machine elves maintaining the workings of reality.

keep posting, I want to know more about how my custom races aren't falling into these traps

My dm invented a race of sergal-lite wolf Vikings for his arctic campaign.

Much fun was had during those games.

Slime-people. They form themselves into a vaguely humanoid shape, but only because they've learned it makes dealing with solids a lot easier.

Ditto for speech; although capable of making sound (by vibrating their outer membrane), their natural method of communication is non-verbal, a combination of sign language and transmitting pheromones by direct contact. They learned to produce speech in order to communicate with solids. In native slime culture, vocalizing in this manner is only used for sounding alarm (basically screaming), and for music. The slimes love music, because of the way the vibrations propagating through their gelatinous bodies feels.

Since "singing" is more natural a form of making sound than "talking", slimes tend to have a distinct sing-song accent. Other quirks of slime speech include mixing up certain words that the slimes don't really have distinct concepts for, on account of their different perspective. For instance, since they have no ears, instead simply hearing by feeling vibrations in the air, they consider "hear" and "feel" essentially synonymous, and will use the two words interchangeably. Likewise for "taste" and "smell"; they have no distinct tongue or nose, but rather have chemical sense receptors distributed throughout their body.

Because slime language involves a significant contact-pheromonal component, they don't tend to have much of a concept of personal space. Those that don't deal often with solids tend to forget that things like grabbing a stranger's hand when talking to them is generally considered rude or even threatening in solid society.

Beast races that run on all fours are always neat. Something a bit closer to a talking animal than an animal person.
I also like golems and constructs similar to the simulacrum in titanfall, but in fantasy settings.
Bug races seem like something that would be underused.

sergals are unironically interesting but ruined by ceaseless autism

I didn't mean the cultures they were based off, I meant the parts where the author would say something like:

>Gileans are stereotyped as being introverted, melancholy, considerate, cautious, artistic, moody, sensitive, and insensitive.

That's too many stereotypes for one group. No real world ethnic groups have more than like 4 stereotypes associated with them. Especially in fiction, this overabundance of stereotypes leads to alack of identity for the race.

For instance, what are dwarves and elves stereotyped as?

>Elves: Agile, noble, powerful in magic, and close to nature.
>Dwarves: Burly, proud, excellent craftspeople, and greedy.

Notice how I only left out maybe two stereotypes of each, and that none of the stereotypes conflict with one another.

Octopodes

Far to the north in a land of ice, the Drumvali people dwell in towers of stone. Long ago, when the world was otherwise, and elder stars still shone, the lands of the Drumvali were hot and humid, and swathed in jungle. The Drumvali built a great empire in that time, growing rich from war, trade and the pursuit of deep magic. Their capital city, Bangaro, was the envy of the world; a sprawling metropolis of steeples and spires, every home a palace, every citizen a king.

But the stars changed, and the world with it, and the jungles of the Drumvali grew cold, and withered. Snow came, and ice, and before long Bangaro rested beneath a frozen lake, a mile deep. So ended the golden age of the Drumvali, and history marched on.

Yet the ragged descendants of the Drumvali still cling to life in that waste, huddled in the highest towers of their ruined capital. They have survived through the use of preserved magic, instructing their strongest children in a heathen fire-cult. These children learn to channel fire through their bodies, heating the towers of their families. The lives of these children are short - ten years at most, before they are totally spent. But their sacrifices are enough to let the Drumvali cling to existence just a little while longer.

Though their lives are grim and cold, the Drumvali do not shun outsiders. They will teach eager pilgrims the secrets of fire, but at a cost. Would-be channelers must venture below, into frozen Bangaro where the Drumvali themselves dare not tread. Their task is to retrieve artifacts of the Drumvali's bygone age. These the Drumvali hoard above all else, for even now they dream of their empire's rebirth, and a return to the days of elder glory.

Moffs

[Adventurous Moth Noises]

Birrin are pretty damn cool.

Humans with different cultures.

Pretty non-standard.

crab people crab people

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agreed, they have neat lore but it seems like only fucking morons play them

Point, though, really, you can append a ton of stereotypes to, let's say the Japanese - xenophobic, conservative, rigid, reserved, hard-working, risk-averse, judgmental, slow to change.

At this point, I'm nitpicking though, and you're right - there's always people who don't fit the cultural mode. I'd definitely say there has to be one "true stereotype" that's less a stereotype and more the way their culture is - like say, how Americans and Canadians are more direct in pointing out problems or talking, how East Asians don't look directly at someone, how the French argue (which easily looks like real hatred), etc.

Man I'd love to gm a vilous themed homebrew.
The alien biome is such a great creative tool.

i basically cream myself at any chance to play things that totally non humanoid, especially if you have to roleplay not having hands. ive only gotten to do it once but i always wish i could more often

>mute
>move in stiff, jerky motions unless no-one is watching in which case they become impossibly swift
>racial hatred of corvids and fear of fire
mite b cool

>Frog people and rat people
My favourite!

>Pig orcs
Also my favourite!

My third favourite is woodland animal creatures. I really want to run a medieval fantasy campaign which has a group of Redwall style animal folk - badgers, moles, hedgehogs, squirrels, foxes, etc. - who seem like jolly, Robin Hood forest men/outlaws on the surface, but are prone to animalistic behaviour and weird, disturbing, bestial shit.

I really fucking love constructs/robot stand ins like scarecrows, gargoyle and little clay golems over just thrusting a robot into a fantasy setting and saying 'lol its clockwork/steampowered my dude.'

Breddy gud

For some reason, I'm getting Eclipse Phase factor vibes in this.

Neanderthal

I like Thri-kreen
>think that sleeping is a bad habit of lazy people
>whenever they join groups they start picking fights so they can figure who their subordinates are (the people who do nothing) and who their superiors are (the people who don't take their shit)
>see LITERALLY nothing wrong with occasional cannibalism or consumption of that sweet, sweet Elf meat

I dig it. Probably because I had a fear of moths as a kid and to this day they still kind of squick me out.

underrated.

BRB looking for stats on moth people holy fuck what great idea!

For the latter, Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts has the bamboo elves. Aside from the riding pandas; that part's batshit. But believe me, I've been looking for something like that; I essentially studied Hmong language and culture in grad school and there really isn't an outlet for that in the RPG scene.

Like, I'd love to run sort of a horror fantasy based on Thai and Hmong folktales, sort of an Indochinese Ravenloft. Yer vs the Tiger in gory splendor against a backdrop of green mountains, elaborate wats and remote villages.

Speaking as an American

>Canadians
>direct

I lived in Calgary for two years and I had a hell of a time figuring out when people were mad at me for the first six months or so. It's like Japan with white people. There's all these social norms that for me were totally not obvious, and I was a bull in a goddamn China shop till I figured them out.

Slug people.

The interesting thing to think about is what role metamorphosis plays in their culture. If it's anything like actual moths, like, the nervous system isn't maintained through the process. The caterpillar dies to produce a butterfly. What does that mean for the notion of personhood, of, to speak in spiritual terms, the soul?

It actually really annoys me Legend of the Five Rings don't have Southeast Asians, both tribe and non-tribals. Who doesn't want to trade with not-Indonesians, have bolos thrown at you by not-Tagalog/Ilocano/Visayan/etc., fight a land war in Vietnam, get lost in not-Malaysia, etc.

Shit, Aswang variants are basically vampire hunters' worst nightmares - depending on the tale, they can basically be werewolf-vampires on crack, flying demons, etc. One of the ways to kill 'em is whip them with a fucking whip made from stingray tails.

Oh, another thing that pisses me off - lack of Korean and Mongolian myths. Everything's Japanese and Chinese. I want to fight an intestine-colored sandworm sometime, or chat with an imugi.

>One of the ways to kill 'em is whip them with a fucking whip made from stingray tails.

I feel like there's a Steve Irwin joke in here somewhere

Really? I've spent a fair amount of time there and never had that problem. Where in the US are you from, out of curiosity?

(You)

>xenophobic, conservative, rigid, reserved, hard-working, risk-averse, judgmental, slow to change.
Honestly, I feel like these overlap to the point you could combine them
>Xenophobic
>Conservative
>Hardworking
That covers everything and allows you to add
>Polite
But I'm just nitpicking too

Minneapolis. I think it's something you don't catch on to until you live there for a while, or at least I don't think I would have. It's subtle stuff. In a way I think I might have had an easier time if I was more recognizable as a foreigner, but my dialect had enough in common with theirs that I don't think I got cut the kind of slack a New Yorker or Angeleno would have.

Or a Bostonian for sure. :V

Someone once asked me to make a token of one of these, it ended up kind of nice.
imgur.com/a/37TzD

They're more or less just Halflings with different stats, but I like using simple Mushroom-folk people to stand-in for my farmer, baker, and rarely combat-oriented race. They like living in their small villages in snowy swamps.

Unlike Halflings, they've got high constitution and dexterity as well as charisma, but lack much strength and intelligence, and especially speed. They are noted for having very nimble fingers, though.

Huh, you realize they are basically giant delicacies for random savages, right?

Great question. Would self aware species think of their former self in a paternal manner? Hard to say.

As far as races go that aren't typically played as PCs, I've always been a fan of Merfolk, Fairies (like, smally, Pixie fairies), and Djinis.

I like Goblins too, but like, not Orcs, small, reptillian, pointy eared/pointy headed little guys. I like Gnomes a lot too, but they're not that uncommon, and get lumped in with halflings or dwarves a lot. I always saw them as being somewhere between the keelber elves and the dwarves from disney's Snow White. You know, like lawn gnomes.

Actually, animate lawn gnomes might be cool.

How about a race of Spider-people, but not like Driders. Almost like, bipedal spiders.

Like imagine a giant, person sized spider, but with only six legs, and then it's abdomen is sort of humanoid, splitting into two long legs, bent at two points, forward and backward.

I imagine them as living in dark forests and caves, avoiding light, and generally moving very slowly and deliberately, but having a lot of fine craft. Very precise, a lot of finese. Being able to manipulate multiple tools at once, very good multitaskers, and very skilled in crafts.

I like it.

It actually reminds me of, in a setting I did, there was a community of the undead. Zombies and skeletons, depending on their age, but they would dress themselves up like scarecrows, straw stuffed clothes, pumpkins and gourds over their heads, that sort of thing, in an imitation of lively flesh.

May have mostly stolen it from Over the Garden Wall, but still, I think it could work for a PC race.

boozle.sgoetter.com/extras/the-adventurers-guide/
>Goblins are essentially humans
>Wizards are a race born with mustaches
>Gnomes are Wizards born without mustaches or magical ability
>Silent Protagonists are sufferers of a disorder that also makes them have adventures
It's a pretty fun setting and I like the art.

my question from OTGW is what the fuck was enoch? a huge skele? many small skeles? a ghost? a god? an actual sentient pumpkin/maypole thing? I don't remember if it was explained in episode.

A race of polar folk.

They appear mostly human, though they have pale blue skin, the color of faded denim, golden eyes, and hair that ranges from gray to violet.

Their skin and hides are very different to humans, and they are incredibly well insulated, and have a very low metabolism, with a very low internal body temperature. Everything they do is slow and deliberate. They don't sleep deeply, but enter an almost meditative state, they can be awake, or in this state, for days at a time, if they wish it, useful with the drastically changing length of days in the poles. They can go long periods of time without eating (though must eat a relatively large meal if they do so) and generally eat less than humans on the whole, though their traditional foods are admittedly more highly caloric.

While they're slow, conserving energy, they're a very thoughtful people, spending a great deal of time thinking the great thoughts. There are many philosophers, artists, and engineers amongst their people. While some are very cold in terms of personality, some are very open and warm-hearted, just like humans, though in a more slow and deliberate way.

Though they can survive in warmer climates for moderately extended periods of time, thanks to their low metabolism, excellent insulation, and generally low internal body temperature (with considerably more wiggle-room than most creatures), after enough time has passed, they begin to succumb to 'heat sickness' when their temperatures have finally gotten too high. Maybe they can't even feel temperature, so it really just seems like a strange sickness to them. This can be remedied by eating very cold ice regularly, to keep their body temperatures low, but supply can be an issue. Because of this, they mostly stick to themselves, and don't venture to other cultures much (or the other way around, for obvious reasons).

It was kind of implied that Enoch was the cat, but even then, I believe him to be some sort of minor god or deity. He's the shepherd of the dead essentially.

So polar adapted Na'vi?

Ew no.

Culturally very different. Way more industrial. Big grand palaces and monuments. A focus on architecture, industry, invention, complex thought, philosophy, mathematics, poems, poetry, stuff like that.

Very little love for nature, other than perhaps the quiet, bleak serenity of it.

I picture almost Egyptian style architecture, but with dark grey stone. Maybe even incorporating ice into buildings.

>they're a very thoughtful people, spending a great deal of time thinking the great thoughts.

I don't imagine you do a lot of "thinking the 'great thoughts'", do you?

>Way more industrial
>race is slow polarfolk

are you memeing or

In retrospect, I suppose in a lot of ways they are just sort of a mixture of elf and dwarf tropes in one race, with some added winter stuff. I still think they could be stylistically cool though.

Underrated post

That's a phrase. It means like philosophy and religion and that sort of thing. "What's the meaning of life" "Where did we come from, where will we go when we die" that sort of thing. Pondering the big questions. That sort of thing. Have you not heard it before?

Nah. A polar landscape means scarce resources, which require industriousness to exploit. This is a species that's naturally very academic, spends a lot of time thinking things through. This leads to developing more efficient ways to extract resources from the environment. More efficient ways to use those resources.

Efficient, if not in time, in energy, which would be the far more crucial resources for these people. Build farms so that it takes less energy to gather food. Build roads so it takes less energy to trade and move around. Build shelters to spend less energy just surviving. Then that evolves, building roads and shelters leads to asking "How big a building could we build? How nice a road could we design?" And sure, building monuments and buildings might be slow work, slower than humans would, but in a very slow-and-steady way.

>uses a meme, unironically calls other people dumb

make like tojo and shoot yourself

A species of bizarre quasi-lepidopteran women, coming from an alien dimension with magical links to the material world through mists and mirrors - Hollow Vubidina.

Many years ago, the kings and scholars of this realm attempted to bind a great malignancy to their will, but it overcame them and poisoned their bodies, the land, and even time itself.

Vubidina was doomed to a torturous, lethargic end, as its rulers devolved and mutated into sinuous, worm-like beasts. Time flows sporadically there, and the mage tyrants themselves are locked in a kind of temporal flux which even death struggles to penetrate.

Their gibbering bodies pulsate in the dark caverns they now call home, as they psychically command a spawn-species of humanoid female hatchlings to fight like rival ant hives over what remains of their cursed, dream-like realm.

These females are known as Sierans to the people of the material plane, which they sometimes find themselves in when the tides of magic allow sudden perforations in the deteriorating metaphysical boundaries of The Hollow.

Despite their insectoid roles, Sierans look outwardly human, but stand tall and lithe like Elves, and are possessed of a disconnected, alien disposition. They have a paleness and animate nature which disturbs some, and entrances others.

With the psychic link to their magician worm-kings broken, they often lose themselves in the culture and arts of the societies they find themselves in, dazzled by such raw expressions of emotion and life.

Their bodies, magically charged, make them adept sorceresses, and the eldritch nature of their origins more than often results in them taking on increasingly disturbing forms as they grow in age and power.

it's self-replicating

>It means like philosophy and religion and that sort of thing.

You're adorable.

A race of camel-men who decide their leadership by who has the most and biggest humps.

What's up with all the fucking focus on hands and fingernails? This guy has an obvious fetish.

I think you're onto something but the philosophy/religion & very industrialist are more or less contradictory because unless the same people are in charge of both, there will be infighting
Unless you want to create not-atlanteans who are superior to everyone, that is

HELL YEAH!

Y'all mind if I steal this for my story?

Wasn't there a Black Eyed Peas song about these guys?

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I'm stealing your idea and you can't have it back.

By all means, improve on it.

Three words

Protestant Work Ethic.

That actually sounds like it could be awesome if no one brought fetish shit in, I'm thinking of them kinda like viking gnolls.

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Always liked the idea of federation between a human and utterly different alien species.

No, you're thinking about beemen.

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Kinda uninspiring and odd.
"Their blood glows in the dark"
"The women are called handlebars"
"Their skin is ghastly white but turns dark underwater"
"Ghostfuckers"

I mean, yeah there's some infighting. There is in every society.

Look at humans. Some of us are artists, some of us are philosophers, some of us are scientists, some of us are CEOs. Societies are complex.

And they've gone together in the past. Many of the greatest structures built for most of human history were done so in the name of religion. Look at all the scientific progress that was pushed forward by monks.

I should note, when I say industrious, I mean more, industrialized? Like, highly developed technology for the time period, complex structures and devices, in general, things to make work easier. Not industrious in the sense of like, the dwarves, endlessly mining and expanding capital and resources.

Industrializing to make it easier to get the same amount of work done, not to get more profit from the same amount of work.

These seem really boring and pointless.

>Racist Thri-Kreen paladin
>Fucking sick of smiting undead endo-skeletons.

Races should be a little cliche and standard, I think. Their identity should at least have some malleability to it, and trying too hard to be unique can really force a race into a single unwavering role.