Information on Races and Subraces
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Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
The most common of the elven subraces on Faerûn are the moon elves. They have fair skin, sometimes tinged with blue, and hair of silver-white, black, or blue; humanlike colors are somewhat rare. Their eyes are blue or green, with gold flecks. As far as the elves of Faerûn go, moon elves are most like the elves presented in the Player's Handbook.
Moon elves prefer to dress in rustic clothes of simple cuts and fashions that are nevertheless of fine and exquisite make. They adorn their dress with embroidered patterns, beads, and similar trappings, preferring earthen colors for everyday wear, hues that make it easy to conceal themselves in foliage. In places of safety or in times of revelry, moon elves enjoy dressing in bold color - the more brightly colored, the better. Hair is worn in braids or ponytails, twined with wires or beads. Moon elves sometimes wear body paint or tattoos in mystic patterns, although not to extent the wild elves do.
History
Although the moon elves were not the first elves to migrate to Faerûn, they comprised the largest migration. Even in the ancient past their joy for travel seems to have been present, for they came to Faerûn in great numbers indeed. The moon elves wanted to explore this new world rather than settle down, and so did not establish nations of their own for some time, preferring to settle in other elven nations, such as Othreier and Keltormir. The only one of the ancient elven nations that the moon elves could truly call their own was Orishaar, which was defeated in -11,200 DR by the Ilythiiri.
Following the Crown Wars, moon elves helped to raise many of the nations of the second generation of elven realms. Survivors of Orishaar, in conjunction with clans from other realms that had been destroyed during the Crown Wars, founded the secret refuge of Evereska in -8600 DR, and many moon elves populated the glorious realm of Cormanthyr, founded in -3983 DR in the woods of the Elven Court. One by one the old elven realms faded away, until the fall of Myth Drannor in 714 DR left Evereska as the last moon elf city in Faerûn. Many nomadic moon elf bands still roamed the great forests of northern Faerûn, but no new elven kingdoms rose after the fall of the second-generation realms.
Despite the fact that only a single realm of moon elves has survived the ages since the Crown Wars, the moon elves have
fared well compared to many of their elven kin. Content to gather in small, secretive, and relatively short-lived settlements or to simply wander across the wild lands of Faerûn as their hearts call them, the moon elves have built few places worth destroying. When the Elven Retreat began, the moon elves were slow to heed its call, and even then answered the call in much smaller numbers than did the sun elves and other elven races.Outlook
Moon elves are more impulsive than the other elves, and dislike remaining in one place for any significant amount of time. Most moon elves are happiest when traveling, especially across the expanses of untrodden wilderness that still survive in Faerûn. This is probably the single greatest reason why they are so much more friendly and accommodating to other races than many other elves: They do not isolate themselves from the human lands behind impervious defenses. Moon elves have watched humankind for much longer than their sun or wood elf kin, and they know that nonelves aren't as foolish and unimportant as most other elves think. They feel that engaging promising human realms such as Silverymoon and instilling elven values and culture in these young lands is a better way for the elven race to survive and thrive than hiding away and avoiding all contact with ambitious, grasping humans.Moon elves are drawn to adventure through sheer wanderlust. They desire to see and do everything possible during their long lives. Like their allies the Harpers, moon elves believe that a single person of good heart who stands up to injustice or evil can make a big difference. The typical moon elf adventurer tends to be a wandering protector of the common folk, not a dungeonplundering slayer of monsters.
Moon Elf Characters
More so than other elves, moon elves are drawn to a variety of paths. They have a great love of music and make excellent bards. Moon elves do not possess the depth of reverence for the Seldarine the sun elves do, nor the bond with nature of the wood elves, but clerics and druids are not uncommon among the subrace. Many moon elves are skilled warriors and have at least some levels in the fighter class, as they have long made up the bulk of the elven armies. But moon elves prefer stealth over strength, and often choose to become rangers or rogues instead. Finally, like all elves, moon elves are enamored of magic, and a great number take up the wizard's arts.
Favored Class: Moon elves share a natural affinity for arcane magic with the sun elves, although they tend to be more impulsive with their spells. Unlike their more disciplined kin, moon elves frequently pursue two or more paths at the same time, combining the study of magic with the arts of the swordmaster or the rogue. Their favored class is wizard.
Prestige Classes: The moon elves were the first to develop the bladesinger prestige class, and they have the most bladesingers of any the elven subraces. Moon elves often become arcane archers, as one might expect. Any moon elf adventurer of good heart who has a little experience under her belt is likely to become a Harper and often chooses to advance as a Harper scout. Moon elves also make very good spellsingers.
Moon Elf Society
Moon elves are nomadic spirits who rarely settle down for long in one place. They are comfortable living among sun elves and wood elves, but just as often they live in areas dominated by humans, halflings, or even gnomes. Their homes tend to be simple, unassuming, and comfortable.
Moon elves are much less solemn and serious in their ways and actions than sun elves. Their songs and poems are lighter and often quite humorous; tragedies have their place but the moon elves prefer to balance such things with light-hearted and often bawdy tales and songs. They also enjoy a wide variety of art styles, including paintings and sculpture. Moon elves are fond of games of chance and gambling. Drinking, feasting, and reveling are all a strong part of their society.
A more serious side to the moon elves emerges in times of trouble. Moon elves are just as skilled with weapons and magic as their fellow elven subraces, and do not hesitate to act if a situation calls for violence as a solution. Even in warfare, they try to find hope and humor, for it is during these dark times that levity and joy are most valuable.
Moon elves gather in loose bands, composed of a dozen or so extended families. Leadership is democratic; all elves of the band have a say in important decisions, although the voices of one or two of the wiser and more experienced family heads tend to carry the day. In times of danger, the band chooses an elder or warleader to see them through the peril. Moon elves travel light and travel often, rarely staying in the same place for more than a season or two before moving on.
Language and Literacy
All moon elves speak Elven, Common, and the human language of their home region. Their nomadic nature encourages them to pick up additional languages as they travel as well, and most moon elves can speak at least one or two additional languages beyond these. Common choices include Auran, Chondathan, Gnoll, Gnome, Halfling, Illuskan, and Sylvan.All moon elf characters are literate, except for barbarians.
(Base Race- ELF, Sub Race- leave blank or Moon Elf)
Stats: (neverwinter nights standard stats)
Racial Abilities: +2 Dex, -2 Con
Special Abilities: Immunity to Sleep, Hardiness vs. Enchantments, Bonus Proficiencies (Longsword, Rapier, Shortbow, Longbow), Skill Affinity (Listen, Search, Spot), Keen Senses, Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Wizard -
Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
The majority of Faerûn's sun elves live on Evermeet, having abandoned what remained of their ancient realms during the centuries following the falls of Illefarn and Cormanthyr. They are only now returning to the mainland to reestablish their presence there. The sun elves are famed for their command of both arcane and divine magic, which exceeds that of any other living race. Works of elven high magic thousands of years old still survive in the hidden refuges of the sun elves.
Sun elves are responsible for the majority of the great elven cities of legend, although other elven subraces aided the construction of many of these cities. Myth Drannor is perhaps their most famous creation, although probably not their most magnificent. Sun elf realms are the stuff legends are made of, an integral part of the history of Faerûn for thousands of years. The sun elves certainly know this, for they distance themselves from nonelf races and often won't let such "lesser beings" into their lands.
(Base Race- ELF, Sub Race- Sun Elf)
Stats: (Arabel custom)
Racial Abilities: +2 Int, -2 Con
Special Abilities: Immunity to Sleep, Hardiness vs. Enchantments, Bonus Proficiencies (Longsword, Rapier, Shortbow, Longbow), Skill Affinity (Listen, Search, Spot), Keen Senses, Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Wizard -
Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
The wild elves of Faerûn are insular and savage, and as a result are rarely seen outside their
forest homes. In ages past the wild elves (or green elves, as they were more commonly known) raised great kingdoms in the forests and fielded armies to defend their homes, but with the march of time they have abandoned the trappings of civilization, becoming a furtive, reclusive race. The wild elves were always close to nature, even more so than other elves, but they have forgotten many of the high arts and lore of their people, choosing stealth and survival over building and book learning.Wild elves are stocky and strongly built for elves. Their skin tends to be dark brown, and their hair ranges from black to light brown, lightening to silvery white with age. They are quiet around anyone except their own kind, and quickly become hostile in these uncomfortable situations. Clothing is kept to a minimum among the wild elves, although they make up for this with body decoration of all sorts—tattoos, war paint, feathers, and beaded jewelry that shows a surprising streak of complex and beautiful artistry.
History
The wild elves were not always the feral creatures they have become today. Ages ago the green elves, as they were then known, were the first elven explorers (along with the lythari and the avariels) to discover Abeir-Toril, and they quickly became entranced with the wondrous young world. Of this first migration of elves, the green elves were easily the most successful, and they established several territories destined to become great nations: Thearnytaar, Eiellûr, Syòpiir, Miyeritar, and Keltormir.
Unfortunately, with the coming of the Crown Wars, these nations were among the first to fall. Eiellûr fell to the Ilythiiri (the dark elves) in -11,400 DR, and Thearnytaar in -11,200 DR. The realm of Miyeritar, located where the High Moor now lies, was utterly consumed by the Dark Disaster in -10,500 DR, and the other green elf realms fared little better. The peaceful green elves proved to be relatively easy prey for the cruel dark elves, and by the time the Crown Wars ended in -9000 DR, the idyllic world of the green elves had been shattered. Their great nations razed in centuries of relentless warfare, the green elves began a time they refer to as the Wandering. They never recovered fully from the setbacks of twelve thousand years ago, and raised no more great cities in Faerûn.
The Wandering of the green elves lasted for many long elven generations. Forced to live for centuries as fugitives, slaves, or rootless vagabonds, the surviving green elves receded further and further from elven society, withdrawing to the deepest forests and mountains of Faerûn. While the other subraces races raised the second generation of elven realms in places like Evermeet and Cormanthyr, the green elves placed their trust in secrecy and stealth instead of walls and might, remaining hidden within their forest homes. By the time of Jhaamdath's rise around -5800 DR, the green elves had settled into several of the places that are still their ancient homelands: the Chondalwood, the Forest of Amtar, and other great old woodlands of southern Faerûn.
Over the course of many years, the green elves forgot more and more of their ancient lore and skill, focusing on the only skills that mattered: stealth, survival, hunting, and hiding. They became first a clannish folk, then a tribal culture, and finally a primitive people. They remained elves, of course, creatures of nobility and magic, but they lost the arts of crafting mighty spells and forging magic weapons. Their fleeting contacts with the rising human empires of the day reinforced the green elf reclusiveness, driving them deeper into the wilds and further from their old ways.
Today, the green elves are more widely known as the wild elves, a race lost in time in the sweltering forests of southern Faerûn.Outlook
The tragic history of the wild elves has left them untrusting of outsiders. Their tactics for dealing with intruders vary from tribe to tribe. Some simply hide and allow the trespassers to go by unknowing, while others attack to capture such interlopers. They rarely kill those they capture, preferring to use magic to alter their memories and carry them far away before releasing them. They make friends slowly, and most nonelves simply don't have the lifespans required to gain the trust of a tribe of green elves. They excel in combat and often revel in its chaos and primal fury. Little can match the fury of an enraged tribe of green elves.
Wild Elf Character
More so than any other elves, wild elves value the martial skills. Barbarians and rangers are very common among the wild elves. The wild elves do not feel close to the Seldarine and do not often become clerics, instead venerating nature itself as druids of Mielikki, Silvanus, or Rillifane Rallathil. Wild elves have no written tradition and little patience for hours of study in any event and so rarely become wizards. Unlike other elves, they prefer the sorcerer's arts.
Favored Class: Despite their lack of learning and skill, wild elves are just as naturally talented at arcane magic as most other elves. Their favored class is sorcerer, a path of power that rewards spontaneity and creative energy instead of hours of dry study in ancient, moldering tomes.
Prestige Classes: A small number of wild elf fighter/sorcerers follow the path of the arcane archer, but the most common prestige class among the green elves is the hierophant. Wild elves can become very powerful druids, and their leaders often turn to druids for guidance and support.
(Base Race- ELF, Sub Race- Wild Elf)
Stats: (Arabel custom)
Racial Abilities: +2 Dex, -2 Int
Special Abilities: Immunity to Sleep, Hardiness vs. Enchantments, Bonus Proficiencies (Longsword, Rapier, Shortbow, Longbow), Skill Affinity (Listen, Search, Spot), Keen Senses, Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Sorcerer -
Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
The wood elves are among the most numerous of Faerûn's elven people, a young and confident folk who hold the old elven forest homelands in strength. Heirs to the second generation of elven nations, the wood elves see their realms as the natural successors to lands such as Eaerlann and Cormanthyr. Where the old empires expanded with strength and pride, the realms of the wood elves hope to grow with compassion and humility. The wood elves do not view their homelands as a land apart from Faerûn; they understand better than their kindred that for better or worse, their fates are bound up with the fates of the humans, dwarves, and halflings around them.
Also known as copper elves or sylvan elves, these people have coppery skin tinged with green, and brown, green, or hazel eyes. Hair is usually brown or black, occasionally blond or copperyred. Wood elves prefer to dress in simple clothing, similar to the moon elves but not quite so colorful. They favor a simple cut to tunic or dress, set off by common embroidery in natural designs. They are particularly fond of leather armor, and they often wear lovingly tooled and well-crafted suits even when they do not feel endangered. Their clothing, leather armor or not, is usually in dark shades of green and earth tones to better blend with their natural surroundings. They are a humble race and only rarely do they enhance their appearance with jewelry or similar accessories.
History
The wood elves are the most recent addition to the various elven subraces of Faerûn, although the history of their civilization still exceeds that of many other races of Toril. They also have the unusual distinction (often thought of as an honor by copper elves) of being the only subrace of elves to be actual natives to Faerûn. The first copper elves did not appear at once; their race coalesced slowly over the course of several centuries after the last Crown War, blending several of the older elven kindreds.The Crown Wars brought down most of the great nations of the First Flowering. In the wake of these terrible wars, thousands of elves were left bereaved and homeless. Families were torn apart, and for many centuries (a time known to the elves as the Wandering Years) these elves simply led the lives of nomads. Some of Faerûn's elves retreated to their ancestral homes and started to build anew, but on a smaller scale, raising the second generation of elven nations. But a significant portion of elves never felt the need to do so. These elves (mostly moon, sun, and green elves), vowed never again to let internal strife tear their kind apart, retreating to the deepest woodlands to seek shelter from the madness of the world.
Unlike the green elves, these self-imposed exiles did not slip into barbarism. Rather, they formed tightly knit societies that stayed in touch with other like-minded elven communities hidden away in other forests. Over time, these secluded elves grew closer to the natural world and further apart from the high magic and ancient lore the elves had brought from their first home, and became a new subrace of elves apart from their kin: the wood elves.
While the sun elves and moon elves founded realms such as Evermeet and Evereska after the Crown Wars, the great realm of the wood elves was ancient Eaerlann, a realm founded in the eastern High Forest around -4700 DR. The elves of Eaerlann engaged other young empires of the North in peaceful trade and diplomacy, befriending the dwarven realm of Delzoun soon after its establishment in -3900 DR, and tutoring the early Netherese in magic around -3830 DR.
The human empire of Netheril soon eclipsed its elven neighbors, growing in martial and magical might at an alarming pace. In -3533 DR the Netherese uncovered the Nether Scrolls in the ruins of Aryvandaar, eagerly exploiting magic so powerful and terrible that even the sun elves of the First Flowering had not dared to employ it. For centuries the wood elves of Eaerlann sought to quietly check Netheril's pride and expansionism, but in -339 DR, the Netherese destroyed themselves as Karsus sought godhood and instead brought cataclysmic destruction down on his people. The elves of Eaerlann took in many Netherese survivors, allowing them to settle in the city of Ascalhorn.
The elves and humans of the North lived in peace for a time, but Ascalhorn too was doomed to fall through the folly of mages. Careless summoning of powerful fiends led to a sudden, terrible assault by an army of devils who overthrew the proud city in 882 DR. This time, Eaerlann did not survive the destruction of the neighboring human realm. Already gravely weakened by a year of battling against ferocious orc hordes, Eaerlann fell soon after Ascalhorn became Hellgate Keep.
In the years since the fall of Eaerlann, the wood elves have not raised any more great realms, choosing to put their trust in stealth and vigilance instead of castles and cities. Although they felt the call of the Elven Retreat, the wood elves did not respond. With the end of the Retreat, the wood elves have emerged from their secret homes in the depths of Faerûn's woodlands as a strong and confident people whose wariness is tempered by compassion. The wood elves of the High Forest dream of reestablishing old Eaerlann, but this time their realm will be a realm of reclusive villages and watchful foresters, not walled cities and proud warriors.
Outlook
Wood elves are calm, serene, and difficult to surprise. Their patience is legendary. They are at one with the world of nature, and are not comfortable in areas of heavy civilization. They have lost the urge to build and replace nature with walls and palaces; even the cities built by their elven kin seem to be foolish to the wood elves. They have come to believe that buildings of stone are transitory in nature, and that in time, the forest returns to overgrow the greatest of cities. Other races interpret this attitude as fatalistic or condescending, and as a result wood elves find it hard to understand anyone who isn't a wood elf.Wood Elf Characters
Of all the elven subraces, the copper elves have the least fascination with arcane magic. They understand its power and a number of their folk study its ways, but ultimately the artifice of arcane lore is simply one more way of expressing dominion over the natural order of things, and the wood elves view it in that light. Wood elves make excellent fighters, rangers, and rogues, relying on their natural strength and quickness to meet challenges. Wood elves from particularly remote forests sometimes become barbarians. Clerics are somewhat rare among this people, but druids are very common and are the most prominent spellcasters of the race.
Favored Class: Wood elves are master hunters, and most train enough to possess at least one level of ranger. Favored enemies usually include orcs, gnolls, outsiders (planetouched), and other savage races that dwell near the traditional homelands of the wood elves.
Prestige Classes: When wood elves choose to take up a prestige class, they are usually drawn to the arcane archer or hierophant classes. Like the moon elves, wood elves are friendly toward the Harpers and all they represent, so they are commonly Harper scouts. Few wood elves become spellsingers or bladesingers.
Society
Wood elves live at ease with nature, using what naturally occurs in the world to shelter or defend themselves. They are not nomadic, and claim large territories in the deepest woodlands of Faerûn. Some wood elves choose to do without houses, furnishings, and any possessions they can't carry, using the high branches of great trees or natural caves in their roots for shelter and storage. Most wood elves instead prefer to dwell in small villages of permanent homes of natural fieldstone and lovingly carved wood, so carefully concealed among the surrounding wilderness that a human hunter might walk through the center of a wood elf village and not even notice that he had done so.Wood elves adhere to a tradition of leadership by their oldest and most experienced druids, although most villages form a council of elders selected from the wisest and most experienced elves of each family to handle day-to-day affairs. The druidical hierarchy serves to unite wood elves of different villages and weld all the wood elves of a particular forest into a common realm. The druids do not presume to tell the elders how to run a village, but the elders generally give great weight to anything a druid chooses to say.
Wood elves excel in the hunt. They spend much of their time stalking their chosen territory on the search for food or intruders into their realm. The rest of their time is spent frolicking among the branches; in this regard, they are quite similar to moon and wild elves. With the end of the Retreat, wood elves are quickly coming back into contact with the civilized world. Although they are reluctant to allow others into their lands, wood elves understand that times are changing. If they are to survive as a people, it may be time to change for the copper elves to change as well.
Wood Elves (Base Race- ELF, Sub Race- Wood Elf)
Stats: (Arabel custom)
Racial Abilities: +2 Str, +2 Dex, - 2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha
Special Abilities: Immunity to Sleep, Hardiness vs. Enchantments, Bonus Proficiencies (Longsword, Rapier, Shortbow, Longbow), Skill Affinity (Listen, Search, Spot), Keen Senses, Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Ranger -
Deep Gnome (Svirfneblin)
The deep gnomes are closest thing the gnome family has to black sheep. Many surface dwellers count the deep gnomes along with their evil neighbors, the drows and the duergars, believing them to be little more than dark reflections of the friendly rock gnomes with whom they are more familiar. In fact, the svirfneblin are just as good-hearted as their sunnier kin However, after centuries of dealing with the everyday perils of living in the Underdark, they have become understandably distrustful of all outsiders.
Compared to their better-known kin, the rock gnomes, the deep gnomes are as gray and lifeless as the subterranean caverns in whick they choose to make their homes. They keep to themselves out of fear of outsiders - a fear born from numerous poor experience with such people. To a deep gnome, the only people you can trust are other deep gnomes from your village, and preferably from your family. All other are best avoided.
With strangers, most deep gnomes are sullen, reversed and suspicious, almost to a fault. However, when they are alone with their own kind, they are froendly and respectful to each other. Few people from outside a svirfneblins community have ever seen this more pleasant side of the deep gnomes. For their part, the deep gnomes would be horrified to find themselves observed by outsiders, and they find suck a person staring at them - or even looking directly at them - quite rude.
Deep gnomes are gnarled and callused folk, with little fat at all on their wiry bodies. Their skin is the color of the rocks among which they live, almost as if they sprang directly from the stones themselves. They have dark gray eyes, tending toward black, their hair is of a similar color, although it's only seen on the woman, as the men are entirely bald and beardless.Deep gnomes are short-lived for gnomes and reach adulthood at an age of 20 years. Like their lives, svirfneblin are also short and hard. They stand between 3 and 3 1/2 feet tall on average. They are thinner than their surface cousins, bt they weight just as much - about 40 to 45 pounds - due to the density of their muscles. They are little more than wiry sinews and rocklike bones.
History
While most gnomes have little use for history, tending to prefer living in the moment, deep gnomes are the worst of the lot. They do not have a formal calenday or any way to tell the turning of the day. Living far from the light of the sun, the very idea of night or day is foreign to them. Dozens of svirfneblin cities lie scattered throughout the Underdark of Faerûn, and dozens of more have surely risen and been abandoned over the years, but of all these settlements and reguges, the story of only one is widely known to non-deep gnomes: Blingdenstone.
Blingdenstone was founded in =690 DR b several clans of deep gnomes felling west from the Underdark beneath Netheril, which had fallen into the power of the dreadful phaerimms. Despite the procimity of a powerful drow city (Menzoherranzan) and an equally strong duergar city (Gracklstugh), the deep gnomes established their city at ots site because of the rich veins of arandur and other exotic metals and minerals. From almost two thousand years, the deep gnomes carried on their mining and smithing, avoiding their evil neighbors and strenthening Blingdenstone's defences against the day their enemies would come against them.
That day came in 1338 DR, although King Schnicktick and Queen Fricknarti could not have anticipated how it would come about. Drizzt So'Urden, a renegade drow noble, arrived at Blingdenstone's doorstep after years of exile in the Underdark, and received sanctuary among the deep gnomes. Although Drizzt remained among the deem gnomes for only a short time, the events of his exile eventually led to a full-scale drow attack against the dwarven citadel of Mithral Hall in 1358 DR. The invason route passed close to Blingdenstone, and the deep gnomes chose to abandon their city. After the drow army passed, Belwar Dissengulp and other deep gnomes wardens convinced King Schnicktick to join their forces to those of the defenders of Mithral Hall. The deep gnomes and their allies inflicted a great defeat on Menzoberranzan in the Keeper's Dale, and the Menzoberranyr never forgot that the svirfneblin had contributed to their humiliation.
In Marpenoth of 1270 DR, the Matron Mothers of Menzoberranzan exacted their vengeance. Calling up dozens of powerful demons and bebiliths, they unleased a plague of murderous fiends that overran Blingdenstone. Thousands of gnomes died in the fall of the city, and thousands more were captured by the drow slavers waiting outside the city gates. A small number of the deep gnomes managed to escape to Mithral Hall and Silverymoon as refugees. Driven from their old homes, the svrifneblin have found a warm welcome among their fermer allies, but the prospect for returning to their old home looks bleak at best.Outlook
Dour and cinical, deep gnomes are resigned to their lot in life. They spend their days scratching out a living in the subterranean passages near their home. The males mostly mine for precious gems, while the females - who are rarely seen outside their villages - gather food, care for the children, and keep house. Few aspire to do anything other than live out their lives quietly focusing on doing their jobs the best that they can.
The svirfneblin literally have little or no light in their lives. To avoid detection by others in the Underdark, they often refuse to use fire for cooking or warmth whenever possible. Instead, they rely on their darkvision wheneverp ossible, seeing the world only in black and white. The deep gnomes live and work in the eternal darkness out o their overwhelming love for gems. Most makes spend almost their entirely lives trying to chip precious stones out of the earth. They favor rubies most of all.
Outsiders often think of the deep gnomes as irredeemably sullen and suspicious. While there is some basis for this, they are the outward results of survvival techniques that these gnomes have had to adopt to endure their harsh and unforgiving environnement. Sounds of any kind - especially voices - travel in strange ways in the Underdark, and they have a tendency to attract visitors. In the experience of most deep gnomes, such outsiders have only the worst of intentions, so when a svirfneblin encounters a stranger who is actually friendly, she normally is too suspicious to even consider responding in a like manner. She may eventually warm to a svirfneblin from another town, but even this can take time.
While deep gnomes adventurers are rare, some deep gnomes succumb to gnomish curiosity about the world outside the caverns and mine shafts of their daily lives. This is especcially true for those deep gnome illusionists who crave to learn more about the nature of their chosen school of maigc, but who lack for instruction in the insular villages in which they live. Svirfneblins prospectors are also occasionally encountered in the Underdark far from their homes, questing for promising new veins to mine for their beloved rubies.Deep Gnome Characters
Svirfneblin are rarely found outside their own society. When this does happen, it's usually a lone prospector, a solitary illusionist, or a group of warriors who have strict out from their towns for one reason or another. Typically, deep gnomes only leave their homes out of a deep and abiding curiosity about the outside world, a burning desire to find more riboes, or the need to find help for dealign with some creature or event the svirfneblin don't feel they can handle on their own. Svirfneblin adventurers are most commonly fighters, rangers, rogues or wizards (particularly illusionists). Naturally stealthy, they find that the skills honed in surviving the dangers of the Underdark also serve an adventuring ranger or rogue well.
Favored Class: Like all gnomes, svirfneblins are talented wizards, especially illusionists. With and illusionist's powers, the deep gnomes can keep out of sight of others until she decides to reveal herself. She can remains concealed, hide her home and friends, and deceive or misdirect enemies. Svirfneblins have learned that an enemy that can't locate them can't hurt them.
Prestige Classes: Some of the burlier deep gnomes excel in fighting in the tight spaces found in and around a svirfneblin town and aspire to become breackgnomes, fighters charged wth the defense of their cavern homes. In a properly sized tunnel, a breachgnome can hold off an invading force almost indefinitely. -
Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
Rock gnomes are the gnomes that most people are familiar with, so much so that when someone says "a gnome," he or she is almost always speaking of a rock gnome. Unlike their reclusive cousins, the deep gnomes and the forest gnomes, the rock gnomes are an inquisitive and loquacious people. They are renowed throughout Faerûn as technicians, alchemists and inventors, as well as illusionists of the highest order. They do not care much for living in larger cities, where their tallents are in high demand, and prefer the rolling hills of the countryside. But anywhere they find themselves, they display an amazing zest for life and all the pleasures it holds.
Rock gnomes are far friendlier and moer outgoing than the other gnome kindreds. They are well known for their love of jokes and pranks, as well as their fondness for finely made things. As with all gnomes, they adore gems of all kinds, but rock gnomes have a particular passion for the purity and perfection of the diamond.
Rock gnomes average between 3 and 3 1/2 feet tall, and weigh between 40 and 45 pounds. heir skin come in many different shades of brown, but is unaffected by exposure to the sun. The hair of young gnomes can vary greatly in color, but in adulthood, they all tend toward gray or white. The males wear their beards neatly trimmed.
From a rock gnome's point of view, life is meant to be enjoyed in all its facets: work, play, and otherwise. Again, it's the process that's important, not the goal, even if those goals - like, say, finely cut gems - do end up being valuable on their own. This shows in just about everything a rock gnome does, from making a meal to working a mine to playing a practical joke. The care they put into their actions always shines through.
Young rock gnomes have carefree childhoods. During their adolescence, rock gnomes are expected to learn the basics of a useful trade and to master the basics of self-defense. They are encouraged to dabble in all sorts of pastimes until they find something that pefectly fits their temperaments. They come of age at 40, an occasion for the largest party of their lives. From there, the average life expectancy is about 350 years, although some have been known to reach 500 years in age.
History
The rock gnomes are counted as one of the mahor races of Faerûn. Although they may not be as populous or influential as some of the other races, there are gnomes scattered throughout the continent. Gnomes have played a large part in the development of firearms in Faerûn, and they are acknowledged as the masters of these tricky items.There have never been such a thing as a gnome empire or even a country. If gnomes can be said to have a homeland, it would have to be the islands of Lantan, far to the southwest of the main continent. Of course, few gnomes have ever been to Lantan or know more about it than what they've heard in the legends passed down to them by their ancestors.
Outlook
Rock gnomes are generally optimistic. They view the wrokd as a puzzle that the gods - in their infinite wisdom - have laid out before them as the ultimate challenge, one that cannnot ever be fully met. It is their greatest joy to be involved in the unraveling of the mysteries of creation an act they feel brings them closer to the gods with each passing day.In their adolescence, rock gnomes are ecouraged to dabble in as many different things as possible. Eventually, they find something that truly intrigues them, fires their imaginations, and sets them on the path of a career that may last them the rest of their lives. Almost every rock gnome enhoys what she does for a living, whick is one of the reasons that they have such positive dispositions.
Of course, rock gnimes enhoy their leisure time at least as much as their work. They are known for hosting wild celebrations on the thinnest of pretenses. When they really have a reason for cheer, the parties have been known to last for tendays.
While most gnomes are homebodies at heart, a number simply can't resist the urge to go out into the world to explore. Inquisitive by nature, gnomes often find themselves almost complelled to do everything they can to learn about anything they want. Others, the greedier ones, set off in search of fame and fortune. Sadly, these are fleeting dreams, as even the most famous of gnomes is usually just another member of her community when she returns home.
Rock Gnome Characters
Rock gnomes characters with close ties to their comminuties are often clerics, wizards, or rangers (although their low Strength score means that they'll likely favor ranged combat). Rock gnomes infected with wanderlist almost always become bards )often supplementing their performances with their extra gnome spells) and rogues.
Favored class: The rock gnome's favored class is the illusionist, for whick there are two reason. First, an illusionist can do a great deal to help hide the homes of his people, granting them the privacy they crave and the safety they require. Gnomes are not the match of most other races on an open battlefield and they know this. They're smart enough to take every edge they can get.
Second, illusionists have the most entertaining of magics at their disposal. The finest ones can actually tell visual stories with their illusions, creating a new kind of art form that is exclusive to illusionists and favored by gnome practitioners of that arcane art.Prestige Classes: Some of the breaver and stronger rock gnomes excel in fighting in the tight spaces in the tunnels in their underground homes. In such spaces, a breachgnome can hold off an invading force almost indefinately.
Society
Rock gnome life is filled with long days of work that stretch on for tendays at a time, punctuated by jubilant celevrationgs in which these hard-driven workers finally get to blow off some steam. This is the kind of life that most gnomes prize, and they fell blessed by the gods that they are mostly able to manage it.
Once a gnome reaches adulthood, she is expected to take up a career and work at it tirelessly to become the best at it that she can be. Some gnomes switch vocation later in life - some do it several times, in fact - but this is relatively rare. The vast majority of gnomes find something they like to do and then stick with it for as long as they can.
Even on the job, though, gnomes are usually friendly and fun-loving people. They are constrantly telling jokes throughout their days, many of which leave their coworkers in stitches. Practical jokes are fine too, as long as they don't disrupt the work environment too much. Every gnome loves a good prank, but they all insist on getting their jobs done too.
Many gnomes work as miners. While they may not be as agressive at it as dwarves, they're actually much better at getting the most possible out of a vein of ore. Others practice stonecutting or gemwork. Their metalworkers prefer to work with softer metals - gold, silver, and so on - although they do a fine job with harder materials like steel too. They also make excellent woodworkers and carpenters. Faerûnian rock gnomes are among the finest artisans working in the fields of toymaking, clockwork engineering, and gunsmithing. It's common for rock gnomes to be armed with smokepowder pistols.
Gnome cooking is not much of a draw to outsiders. It tends to be bland and overcooked or overcooked and over-salted; reliable gnomes-friends claim to have tasted some that was bland and over-salted, though no one knows quite how the gomes cooks managed this. Their (salty) bread is unleavened. All gnomes are very fond of rock candy, and some eat rock salt with equal relish.
Gnomes do, however, make excellent brewers and vintners. Many of them are talented musicians as well. These two facts contribute greatly to the reputation of gnomes as wonderful party guests and even better hosts.
Most rock gnome settlements are small. It's rare to find one with more than five hundred adults in a widely scattered area. However, these comminuties are usually found clustered close together, usually withing a few days' or tendays' travel of each other.
Rock gnomes burrows are usually small but tidy. Any married couple have rooms to themselves, but the children usually share a single room. Adelescents are segregated by gender, each sex having its own room. Each vurrow usually cnnexts to those of the same clan by tunnels, meaning that many gnomes rarely if ever have to go outside during a day. This is one reason why their comminities can go unnoticed by the larger peoples for so long.
When traveling or adventuring, gnomes appear both singly and in small groups. These groups are usually composed of a number of close friends or family members or both.
Language and Literacy
Rock gnomes normally speak Gnome and Commonm as well as whatever language is predominant in their home region. They often pick up Dwarven and Sylvan because they live in areas faveored by these races. Additionally, they regularly come into contact with those who speak Chondathan, Draconic, Goblin, Illuskan, and Terran, although this isn't always under the best of circumstances.
all rock gnomes are literate, except for barbarians.
Magic and Lore
Like all gnome wizards, rock gnomes prefer illusions to any other schoold of magic. They like to use their illusions in clever ways to fool or misdirect foes or to entertain friends.
Rock gnomes all hve the spell-like ability to speak with animals, and many rock gnome characters eventually asquire the Animal Friends feat to improve this ability.
Spellcasting Traditions: A panoply of illusions available to rock gomes make them incorrigible tricksters. They often take the Rock Gnome Trickster feat.
Deities
Rock gnomes are not particularly devout in practice, although they are forever talking about their gods in conversation. They attend services about once a tenday, but not with any kind of fervor. They believe that the gods are with them everywhere, so it's not always so necessary to make the trip to a temple to see them.
Garl Glittergold is the patriarch of the gnome gods, and patron of the rock gnomes in particular. To look at them, one migt think that most rock gnomes model their lives on Garl's behavior, including the constant tricks he plays on the other gods. Many gnomes do the same to their friends whether they are gnomes or not. Clerics of Garl Glittergold keep themselves endlessly busy with the planning of revels, feats, and celebrations to bring good cheer, sustenance, and wisdom to their fellows.
Rock gnomes also venerate Baervan Wildwanderer. The protector of the forests and glades that rock gnomes call home, Baervan is also the patron of gnomish rogues. If there's anyone who could possibly outdo Garl in the prank department, it's Baervan. The two have been trying to top each other since the dawn of the gods, and the friendly rivalry is still going on.
Relations with other races
Rock gnomes get along famously with almost all the standard character races. They are particularly fond of dwarves of all kinds, with whom they share a love of finely wrought jewelry and mechanical devices. They also have a great love for halflings who can take a joke. Their common style of housing and their similar size would be bonds enough but their share of joy for living is what really brings them together.
Rock gnomes are a bit more cautious around the larger peoples, but these reservations usually quickly give way to enthusiasm when someone shows any sort of interest in or knowledge about the gnome's work or other passions.
Orcs, kobolds, and goblinoids find an especially cold place in a rock gnome's heart. Although most rock gnomes find it hard to hate anyone, long experience with these races has told them that it's better to never cut them any break.Besides, none of them can take a joke.
Equipment
Rock gnomes have no unusual racial equipment, but they are outstanding gunsmiths.
Common Items: smokepowder and firearms are available amongs the rock gnomes for 10% less than the standard price.Animal and Pets
Rock gnomes befriend many sorts of burrowing animals, such as moles, weasels, badgers and wolverines. These small creatures serve as watchdogs (and, in the case of the badgers or worlverines, guardians) for gnomes households.
Rock Gnome (Base Race- GNOME, Sub Race- left empty or Rock Gnome)
Stats: (Neverwinter Nights standard stats)
Racial Abilities: +2 Con, -2 Str
Special Abilities: Small Stature, Hardiness vs. Illusions, Offensive Training vs. Reptilians and Goblinoids, Defensive Training vs. Giants, Skill Affinity (Listen, Concentration, Illusion), Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Illusionist -
The jann (singular janni) are the weakest of the genies. Jann are formed out of all four elements and must therefore spend most of their time on the Material Plane.
Jann are physically strong and courageous, and do not take kindly to insult or injury. If they meet a foe they cannot defeat in a stand-up fight, they use invisibility to regroup and maneuver to a more advantageous position.
The Jann are nomadic people, showing great deference to their elders and to storytellers. They travel the elemental planes, using the Prime Material as a place to relax between the harrowing extremes their travels take them along.
Jann culture then is quite similar to that of the real Bedouin tribes.
Invisibility 1/day +10 rounds of underwater breathing Endure Elements 1/day +4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 INT, +2 WIS Darkvision +1 natural armor bonus. -
Taken from the Forgotten Realms Races of Faerun:
Common half-elves are decended from humans and moond elves, sun elves, wild elves, or wood elves. While these epople can be found all over Faerûn, this section descrobes the half-elf culture of Aglarond, the land where the largest number of common half-elves live.
Common half-elves blend humand and elven features, influenced by the subrace of their elven parant and the ethnicity of their human parent. Moon half-elves have pale skin tinged blueish around the ears and chin, flaming their lower faces. Sun half-elves have bronzed skin, and hair of gold. wild half-elves have brown skin. Wood half-elves have coppery skin tinged with green highlights.
Most common half-elves are a bit distant, used to being cast in the role of outsiders. In the Yuirwood, this isnt't so: The half elves make up the majority and have a long and proud history. Many half-elves come to the Yuirwood once they are old enough to leave home. Here, at last, is a place in which they can hope to be accepted.
Half-elves are more slender than humans, and more heavily built than elves. Since the elves of Faerûn are taller and more sturdily built than the elves of other worlds, Faerûnian are very close to human size and weight.
History
The Yuirwood, home to many thousands of half-elves, is located in Aglarond in the Unapproachable East. The Yuirwood was once populated by a large number of wood elves. In 756 DR, however, humans arrived in the area and began establishing settlements. At first, the two cultures chashed, but they eventually banded together agaisnt the mutual threat of the monsters that then lived in the woods. The two races living in the Yuirwood intermingled for centuries, eventually blending to form a true half-elven culture.
In 1065 DR, the half-elves of the Yuirwood made peace with the humans living along the coast vetween their land and the Sea of Fallen Star, and the nation of Aglarond was born. Those humans who refused to make peace left for the western tip of the Aglarondan peninsula, and formed their own country, Altumbel. Aglarond was ruled by half-elven monarchs for generations. About fifty years ago, the royal line died out, and the last queen passed the throne on to her apprentice, the Simbul. Under her rule, the people of Aglarond prostered in the face of Thayan aggression, and through their stalwart defence of their lands have forced their powerful neighbors to abandon (at least temporarily_ the dream of expanding to the Sea of Fallen Stars.
The Yuirwood is unique among forests, in that it is imprenetrable by detection and scrying magics. This has been a great advantage to the Simbul and her people, as it makes it impossible for hostile forces to monitor the movement of peopel and troops within the forest that covers most of Aglarond. Relkath's Foot is the largest settlement of half-elves in the Yuirwood (and all Faerûn, for that matter). It is home to some 5,080 people, most of whom are half-elves.
Outlook
While elves and half-elves are respected and admired in many part of Faerûn, humans in lands where elves are not commonly encountered can be resentful of elven blood. Elves are greaceful, attractive, long-lived, mysterious and skilled with mighty magic, and humans who do not know them well can easily come to regard elves - and, by extension, half-elves - with envy and fear. In places such as Silverymoon or the Dalelands, a half-elf's race is nothing remarkabl, ans she faces little or no bigotry. In lands where thre is a long history of elven-human conflict, such as Tethyr or Sembia, her elven blood marks her as different and dangerous, with all the fears and suspicions one might expect.
Many half-elves respond to the suspicions and slights of their himan neighbors by staying well away from human civilizations, preferring a solitary life in the wildernesses of Faerûn. Others instrad take up a life of travel, never staying in one spot long enough for racial prejudices to distance them from the folk around them.
As the homeland of a mixed society of elves, humans and half-elves, Aglarond is unique among the lands of Faerûn. In Aglarond, a half-elf's race is unrremarkable, and a half-elf is judge buy her own actions and accomplishments, not her kindred. Aglarondan half-elves are a quiet, thoughtful, and courteous fold, slow to efriend outsiders, but unfailingly loyal to the friends tehy've made. Many half-elves from other lands journey to Aglarond at least once in their lives, and more than a few remain their, enriching the Simbul's realm.
Half-Elf Characters
The half-elves of the Yuirwood are a diverse community who welcome immigrants. Among them can be found people of every character class and nearly every multiclass combination, for flexibility is a key trait among half-elves.
Favored Class: The highest class a half-elf has is considered to be his favored class.
Prestige Class: Common half-elves can use any prestige class open to humans. They also have access to the arcane archer, spellsigner, and bladesigner prestige classes.
Society
Aglarondan society is generally free and open. Despite being caught between the reclusive people of Altumble and the agressive zulkirs of Thay, Aglarond has known peace in recent years. However, the Aglarondans know that the price of their freedom is eternal vigilance. Only their resolve, courage, and skills hold Thayan conquest at bay. Any folk of good heart who are willing tostand sohulder-to-shoulder in the defense of their homes and their liberty are welcomed in Aglarond, and over forty years of the Simbul's rule, Aglarond has been greatly strenghtened by the immigration of half-elven craftsfolk, foresters, and adventurers.
In Aglarondan, humans, half-elves, and elves live side by side, each accepting of their neighbors' ways. The half-elves here reach adulthood at about age 20 and then take on whaever role they feel best suited for in their society. Many work in the woods, hunting wild animals, collection pelts, harvestion rare woods and herbs, and gathering nuts and berries. Aglarondan foresters take care not to sespoil the Yuirwood, and go to great pains to avoid taking too much game or felling too many living trees.
Elders are respected in Aglarond for the wisdom they have presumably gained over the years. Once a half-elf is too old to work, he is cared for by his family or his village until he passes on.
When outside a place like Aglarond, half-elves are loners and often keep to themselves. Some treasure the camaraderie and the sense of family they get when traveling with a group of adventurers.
Language and Literacy
The half-elves of the Yuirwood speak Common, Elven, and Aglarondan. Aglarondan is a relatively young language that developed from the blending of Elven with the Damaran tongue of the human settlers who colonized the Yuirwood's coasts five hundred years ago. For bonus languages, half-elves often choose Chessentan, Damaran, Draconic, Elven, Mulhorandi, Orc or Sylvan.
All common half-elves are literate, except for barbarians.
Magic and Lore
Common half-elves can use racial spells of both umans and elves. They have no spellcasting traditions of their own, however. Aglarondan arcane spellcasters often follow the Simbul in the choice of magical schools in which she concentrates: Evocation and Transmutation.
Deites
Common half-elves can choose any human or elven deuty as a patron. Many favor Sune for the love that brought their parents togethers. Aglarondan common half-elves favor Chauntea, Selûne, Valkur, and the elven pantheon (the Seldarines). Those good-aligned half-drow who live in Aglarond have brought the worship of the Lady of the Dance with them. The worship of Eilistraee has spread beyond those with drow blood in their veins, and many common half-elves who enjoy midnight revelries - mostly bards, it has to be said - choose Eilistraee as a patron.
Relations with other races
The common half-elves of Aglarond get along well with most of the major races of Faerûn. They favor their own kind firest and foremost, but they happily work with both humans and elves too, as well as dwarves, gnomes and halflings. The half-elves of Aglarond show a marked tolerance of half-orcs. On the other hand, Aglarondans are deeply suspicious of Thayans, Mulhorandi, and Untherites. These old, corrupt empires have sought to control the Aglarondan peninsula for centuries, and even though Mulhorand and Unther no longer have territorial aspirations in the area, the free folk of Aglarond have long memories.
Equipment
Common half-elves have no unusual racial equipment of their own. However, they can make use of any equipment or weapons specific to humans or elves.
Animals and Pets
Commong half-elves often raise animals and keep pets of the sort that both humans and elves do. Since many Aglarondan half-elves are rangers or druids, they often have unusually smart, strong, and loyal animal companions. Wolves, hawks, and eagles are common in Aglarond.
Half-Elves (Base Race-HALF-ELF, Sub Race- None)
Stats: (Neverwinter Nights standard stats)
Special Abilities: Immunity to Sleep, Hardiness vs. Enchantments, Partial Skill Affinity (Listen), Partial Skill Affinity (Search), Partial Skill Affinity (Spot), Low-light Vision
Favored Class: Any -
updated
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Some of the information here was eaten by the server transfer a while back. Also, some are incomplete. Will also add the stats that used to be on the old website and also for the subraces that were not.
done so far:
Non-Application Races & Subraces:
Dwarves
Shield Dwarf - DONE - stats added
Gold Dwarf - DONE - stats addedElves
Moon Elf - to finish - stats added
Sun Elf - to finish - stats added
Wild Elf - to finish - stats added
Wood Elf - to finish - stats addedGnomes
Rock Gnome - DONE - stats addedHalf-Elves
Common Half-Elves - ADDED - stats addedHalflings
Lightfoot Halflings - DONE - stats added
Ghostwise Halflings - DONE - stats added
Strongheart Halflings - DONE - stats addedHalf-Orcs
Half-Orcs - DONE - stats addedHumans
Chondathan - DONE - stats addedApplication Races & Subraces:
Lycanthropes
Lycanthropes - DONE - stats for some wereformsPlane-Touched
Tieflings - DONE - stats added
Aasimar - DONE - stats added
Air Genasi - to do - no stats
Earth Genasi - to do - no stats
Fey'ri - to do - no stats
Fire Genasi - to do - no stats
Water Genasi - to do - no statsRaces of the Underdark
Duergar - to do - no stats
Drow - to do - no stats
Svirneblin - to do - no statsMiscellaneous
Fey-Touched - to do - no stats
Janni - to do - no stats
Githzerai - to do - no stats
