0 point Human splinter races and variants for Space or Fantasy

[combatmedic]

EDIT: Feel free to add your own 0 point human variant race/culture/subspecies templates, guys.

I'll start off with a simple concept and build.


Half-Men or Highland Dwarfs

Concept: a race of Human--not-demi-human—dwarfs

Description: Dwarfs (human, not Tolkienian) dressed in medieval 'Western' garb. They have their own kingdom in the hills, but exiles or traders may pass into the lands of other peoples. Their main deity, an agricultural power with an aspect of human fertility, is sometimes referred to by ignorant outsiders as a ‘god of **** and wine.’ They recover from injuries faster than do most humans. Half-Men often can drink other folks under the table, because their bodies process alcohol in a more efficient manner. Offsetting their slower speed in escape and reduced strength in combat, Highland Dwarfs have developed a heightened situational awareness.



Stats:
0 points
• SM -1 0 point feature
• -1 Basic Move -5
• -1 ST -10 points
• +1 Perception 5 points
• Two levels of Hard to Kill 4 points
• Rapid Healing 5 points
• Perk: Alcohol Tolerance 1 point

These guys are based on the Nelwyns from Willow, the ‘Highland Dwarfs’ of Your Highness, and a bit of Tyrion Lannister (the god of T and W bit, taken seriously here).


They could be used as a Minor Race in Traveller, if one wanted an SF spin on the race. They are humans, not demi-humans.

EDIT: rejiggered

[combatmedic]

Human Giants


Concept: slothful humans of great stature

Description: Big and strong but lazy, most giants live as vagabonds or bully-boys. Giants tend to grab their backs and moan about old injuries whenever there's hard work to be done, yet they don't seem to feel much pain from blows taken in brawls. They are experts at finding 'free' food and drink. Generations of looking for back-rubs and meal tickets have disposed them towards sociability. They are often encountered hanging about in taverns, trying to mooch off their friends and acquaintances.


Stats:
0 point template


• SM +1 0 point feature
• Laziness -10 points
• Bad Back -15 points
• Chummy -5 points
• High Pain Threshold 10 points
• +2 ST (-10% from SM) 18 points
• First Aid at DEX with a specialization in back injuries 1 point
• Scrounging at IQ with a specialization in victuals 1 point







Edit: rejiggered

[combatmedic]

Fire-Witches



Concept: a race of 'witches' who specialize in fire, smoke, and shadowy tricks, revere the 'mysteries of flame'

Description: flinty/steely nails, red or black hair is common, fair skin

Stats:

• Disciplines of Faith: Ritualism -5 points
• Quirk: Vow not to ever reveal 'magical' secrets to non FWs -1 point
• Quirk: Likes fire -1
• Talent: Fire Witch (Explosives: Fireworks, Fortune-telling: fire gazing, sleight of hand, holdout, esoteric medicine, occultism) 5 points
• Perk: accessory (flint and steel nails enable ignition by hand) 1 point
• Perk: unusual background: has undergone Fire Witch nail modification (nails embedded with thin strips of flint and steel) 1 point

Their magic is really a matter of secret science and legerdemain, transmitted and presented as occult powers. The arcane mysteries of flame and smoke holds a natural attraction for Fire Witches.

EDIT: Swapped Ritualism for Minority Group, to emphasize their mysterious culture and to make them more attractive as a player race.

[Blind Mapmaker]

Dwarfism is only valid as an individual, not a racial advantage. Doesn't matter if your "dwarfs" are only a human subrace. They have a society and a racial template. That makes them a race in GURPS terms. Presumably they have equipment and dwellings fit for their size. I suggest replacing the disadvantage with Distinctive Feature (Dwarf), Move -1 and possibly Social Stigma (Minority Group).

Other than that I really like the idea of fantasy humans. Ancient and medieval sources list all sorts of weird races that weren't necessarily thought of as non-human. I would just suggest going easy on Social Stigma. It's no fun if half the variant humans have to take some variant of that. If you want to go a bit easier on yourself, you could also eliminate regular humans an make all the variants the same non-zero cost. You could also give regular humans a variant template including invisible traits like Luck.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

Dwarfism is only valid as an individual, not a racial advantage. Doesn't matter if your "dwarfs" are only a human subrace. They have a society and a racial template. That makes them a race in GURPS terms. Presumably they have equipment and dwellings fit for their size. I suggest replacing the disadvantage with Distinctive Feature (Dwarf), Move -1 and possibly Social Stigma (Minority Group).

Other than that I really like the idea of fantasy humans. Ancient and medieval sources list all sorts of weird races that weren't necessarily thought of as non-human. I would just suggest going easy on Social Stigma. It's no fun if half the variant humans have to take some variant of that. If you want to go a bit easier on yourself, you could also eliminate regular humans an make all the variants the same non-zero cost. You could also give regular humans a variant template including invisible traits like Luck.

I've adjusted the Highland Dwarf template.


I may refine the other two, as well.

EDIT: I have removed all Social Stigmas and refined the templates a bit. The Giants are now Chummy. The Fire Witches' arcane rites and weird customs have been modeled using Rituals of Faith.
The rulebook uses both 'species' and 'race' in the descriptions for Dwarfism and Gigantism. Which is it? These guys are all human species, but distinct races and cultures. The ones with greater physical differences would likely be classed as subspecies by a scientist from our world. I've tried to avoid stuff that Bio-Tech calls species mods.
Does Distinctive Feature work fine for a human variant race/culture?

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Does Distinctive Feature work fine for a human variant race/culture?

I don't think so... it's meant to make you stand out from your crowd.
What would be a distinctive feature on someone would, as a race, be a 0pt feature, eg cosmetic tail.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

The rulebook uses both 'species' and 'race' in the descriptions for Dwarfism and Gigantism. Which is it? These guys are all human species, but distinct races and cultures. The ones with greater physical differences would likely be classed as subspecies by a scientist from our world. I've tried to avoid stuff that Bio-Tech calls species mods.

The books use the two terms interchangeably (for the most part). My suggestion is to not worry about it too much and just go with what gives you the effects/results you desire for your templates.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

The rulebook uses both 'species' and 'race' in the descriptions for Dwarfism and Gigantism. Which is it?

"Race" in an RPG rules context free of a specific world background, almost always refers to what a biologist would call "species", or "subspecies" at best. Especially in GURPS, which tends to switch to the word "race" when in a fantasy setting where biology may not strictly apply.

("Race" as used in English is more a fuzzy mashup of "nation", "family", "clan", "cultural-linguistic group", yadda yadda)