Non-Human Characters

[Scintillant]

I'm pretty new to The Fantasy Trip. Sort of. I did have Wizard back in the day... So, forgive me for asking a question that's probably been litigated already, but I couldn't find an obvious post in the forum about this.

I'm wondering about elf and dwarf PCs versus human ones. They're all 32-point base, but elves get the extra MA, dwarves can carry more stuff, and humans... are just common and highly variable. Shouldn't humans get some small benefit to balance the other races (the same could be said for orcs and goblins too...)

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by Scintillant

Shouldn't humans get some small benefit to balance the other races (the same could be said for orcs and goblins too...)

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

Human privilege lies in having everybody else forced to spend a skill point to learn your language. Humans who bother to learn the languages of those lesser races get a +1 on reaction rolls as per page 44. Life is sweet when you're the dominant race.

Goblins get to start with IQ 17. Super zappy staffs, loads of starting skill points, etc.

And Orcs get bonus roleplaying XP for doing standard PC nastiness.

I've actually nerfed Humans in my House Rules by handing out longevity to several other races. (And defining what "Hardy" means for a ST 4 Halfling.)

[Skarg]

In a campaign if not an arena duel, the social advantages of being a human might not be obvious, but they are pretty huge (unless the GM ignores them or sets the campaign mostly in non-human territory).

Even if you only consider the non-human races' stigmas against each other (leads to negative reactions, hostility, higher prices, and unavailability of comrades and helpful characters, etc).

[hcobb]

At least half of TFT character XP comes from roleplaying and the biggest advantage of a human character is the ability to design character motivations on a blank slate.

Of course the character with the greatest advantage in the arena is the owner. Odd how often that owner is either a human or indebted to a human. What an amazing coincidence.

[Skarg]

Side-comment:

I don't disagree with your other points, but:

Originally Posted by hcobb

At least half of TFT character XP comes from roleplaying...

is a suggestion of the new edition, which says GMs can award XP as they see fit, which for many of us original-TFT players, means the character actually has to do things that give them experience, not just be themselves and have their players show up to the game sessions.