Designing new race templates?

InfinitePudding · 12-20-2017, 09:35 PM

I have an idea for an adventure where my players will be monsters still using the base professions. But DFRPG doesn't really have monster races. What advice can I get for designing my own racial templates based on some of the monsters found in the Monsters book?

I would like to not go over the 40 points that Cat-folk have for their template when creating my own as I don't really like the idea of unbalancing things by handing out more starting points, I really like the base level the game assumes.

I haven't finished reading everything yet. But I haven't noticed any advice for creating your own templates so far.

Anthony · 12-20-2017, 10:32 PM

Basically, if it requires advantages not listed in DF Adventurers, use full GURPS to do it.

Gnaskar · 12-21-2017, 03:16 AM

Using GURPS supplements to augment your game is certainly an option. You'll find GURPS race template for most of the humanoids in Monsters in The Next Level. But since these are the DFRPG forums and not the GURPS ones, let's see what we can do within the rules of DFRPG.

There are a couple of pitfalls here: First of all, the monsters cheat. The stats occasionally cannot be replicated with the rules in Adventurers, because shortcuts have been taken so that monsters are easy to handle for the GM. Secondly, their stats are modified by equipment and encumbrance. And third, the stat line for humanoid monsters includes a "Warrior NPC Class template". Luckily, SJG has included stat notes for non-warriors, which makes things easier.

As an example, let's take the humble goblin:

Goblin-kin only have a single trait not listed in Adventurers: Infravision. For everything else, we can look up their points value and find up how many points the creature is built on.

Attributes: IQ -1 [-20]; HT +1 [10]
Secondary Attributes: HP +1 [2]; Speed +0.50 [10]
Advantages: Infravision [???], Rapid Healing [5], Resistant to Disease 5 [5], Resistant to Poison [5]
Disadvantages: Appearance (Ugly) [-4], Cowardice (12) [-10], Social Stigma (Savage) [-10]

Total template cost: -7 plus whatever Infravision is worth.

We'll have to houserule a cost for Infravision. It's a lot like Night Vision, except it works in absolute darkness and doesn't allow color or face recognition. To me that seems like a roughly equal trade off, so we could price it after Night Vision 10 at 10 points.

12-20-2017, 09:35 PM	#1
InfinitePudding Join Date: Mar 2014	Designing new race templates? I have an idea for an adventure where my players will be monsters still using the base professions. But DFRPG doesn't really have monster races. What advice can I get for designing my own racial templates based on some of the monsters found in the Monsters book? I would like to not go over the 40 points that Cat-folk have for their template when creating my own as I don't really like the idea of unbalancing things by handing out more starting points, I really like the base level the game assumes. I haven't finished reading everything yet. But I haven't noticed any advice for creating your own templates so far.

12-20-2017, 10:32 PM	#2
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: Designing new race templates? Basically, if it requires advantages not listed in DF Adventurers, use full GURPS to do it. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.

12-21-2017, 03:16 AM	#3
Gnaskar Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Designing new race templates? Using GURPS supplements to augment your game is certainly an option. You'll find GURPS race template for most of the humanoids in Monsters in The Next Level. But since these are the DFRPG forums and not the GURPS ones, let's see what we can do within the rules of DFRPG. There are a couple of pitfalls here: First of all, the monsters cheat. The stats occasionally cannot be replicated with the rules in Adventurers, because shortcuts have been taken so that monsters are easy to handle for the GM. Secondly, their stats are modified by equipment and encumbrance. And third, the stat line for humanoid monsters includes a "Warrior NPC Class template". Luckily, SJG has included stat notes for non-warriors, which makes things easier. As an example, let's take the humble goblin: Goblin-kin only have a single trait not listed in Adventurers: Infravision. For everything else, we can look up their points value and find up how many points the creature is built on. Attributes: IQ -1 [-20]; HT +1 [10] Secondary Attributes: HP +1 [2]; Speed +0.50 [10] Advantages: Infravision [???], Rapid Healing [5], Resistant to Disease 5 [5], Resistant to Poison [5] Disadvantages: Appearance (Ugly) [-4], Cowardice (12) [-10], Social Stigma (Savage) [-10] Total template cost: -7 plus whatever Infravision is worth. We'll have to houserule a cost for Infravision. It's a lot like Night Vision, except it works in absolute darkness and doesn't allow color or face recognition. To me that seems like a roughly equal trade off, so we could price it after Night Vision 10 at 10 points.