Ancestries of the Known World

 My last two campaigns were run in and around the Nentir Vale as presented in the D&D 4th edition with some forays into Kobold Press’s Zobeck and Mharoti dragon empire. In our game the dragon empire was run by a dragonborn dynasty that used enslaved dragons as siege engines. The party’s paladin was the exiled prince and final heir which mostly added texture because his player was keen not to hog the spotlight too much. As I type that out I see now why this was the storyline the players most often stayed close to despite the distractions of orcish hordes and magical circuses they could have run away to join. That campaign is over and new characters will be rolled next time we head this direction.

All that being said our game is now in a Pathfinder 2e coating. So here’s what I’ve been thinking for Ancestries in our specific setting. Notice here the Kobold Press and Hydra Cooperative influences: ratfolk, bearfolk, lizardfolk, etc. 

I have adapted this rollable table from WFRP4e.

The dominant ancestries of this age (roll d100)

01-85 Human

86-89 Halflings

90-93 Dwarf: Rock & Stone.

94-95 Orc

96-97 Beastfolk (roll again 1d10)

1 Barsook (badgerfolk)

2 Gnoll

3 Medved (bearfolk)

4 Tabbit (catfolk)

5 Iruxi (lizardfolk)

6 Shoony (dogfolk)

7 Strix (talonite/birdfolk/Zelda bird people)

8 Ysoki (ratfolk)

9 Leshy (plantfolk)

10 Grippli (frogfolk)

98 Drake

99 Elf

00 Automaton

Rolling on this chart to choose your ancestry grants you 100xp at the start of play. Additionally, rolling randomly for your Background and Class grants 50xp and 100xp respectively.

Oh yeah you can see the influence of WFRP with the Ogre there. I like the idea of large races in my game. Give me PCs big and small, it’s not unbalancing it just changes the game. Good luck getting your big Ogre or Iruxi into the dungeon. 

So what did I leave off? Gnomes, (hob)goblins, all sorts of things that make me say “meh” when I read them. If a player super wants to be one of those things I’d allow it because that’s something that makes them excited, and who am I to squash nerd joy? (Nobody that’s who). 

I plan on writing up a PF2e and B/X version of the Ogre, the Bearfolk, and Badgerfolk first, and then customizing the rest of the ancestries to our particular world.