Troll Lord Games

In my home brew setting I have a race in mind, Thought I would run this by every one. Get some opinions. While I know this will not be every ones cup of tea. I wanted something, Almost alien.

The Dro'tan
The people of the way.

Dro'tan are pale skinned humanoids, Standing between 5'2" and 5'11" on average. Their hair is always white, But can range from a silver/gray to a pure white.
The eyes on a Dro'tan can run the same range of colors as a human, But in more muted and lighter tones. Even the pupil of the eye is more grey than black.
Dro'tan ears come to a very genital point, leading many to believe they are of Elven heritage. Which the Dro'tan deny.
A common thread through all Dro'tan is a sense of spiritualism. A connection to the world and the community. While they may take up any religion in the middle lands this sense
of unity with the world shapes how they see the that religion.

Dro'tan are from a faraway land. All that is known about them is that in their land every one is organized into a very strict caste system. As an adolescent they are tested and then placed into a caste based on natural ability. Dro'tan then work their entire lives to live in harmony with society and their place in their caste. Dro'tan characters are born in the middle kingdom, often third and fourth generation. And only know stories and fables of their home land. Often these stories contradict each other from family to family.

Said to be single minded and driven, The Dro'tan are always top at their craft and profession.

+2 to any one ability score.
when making a Dro'tan players always get to roll and place ability scores in any order they wish, and can only choose a class that prime matches their highest ability score.
Dro'tan only get one prime, The prime associated with their class.
All class skills/powers that are based on other ability scores are treated as if they were prime.
Dro'tan get a +2 to resist any attempt to charm or control their minds.

Ronin77 wrote:
Dro'tan only get one prime, The prime associated with their class.
All class skills/powers that are based on other ability scores are treated as if they were prime.

This might be a bit unbalanced. Only play testing will tell the whole story however. It will vary by class chosen...

That is the one crux so far. If playing a class with skills based on more than one non-prime it seems to work out great. On the other hand playing a fighter for example feels more restricted.

My only thought on balancing that out is to add different perks for different classes.

For example rule as written for rogues. (all class skills as prime). For fighters they get to pick 3 starting weapons to specialize in rather than 1.
Or something like that....still working on this.

My thoughts, if I were to read this in a supplement:

First, it sounds intriguing and I'd want to explore the race more, for sure. So that's great.

Like, what kind of place/environment would they look "normal" in? What must their homeland be like that white haired people would be the norm? Arctic? Deep underground? Pale skin would be strange in a tropical, desert and even much of the temperate climates. As a player I'd want a biological reason for what they look like. If not natural selection, then perhaps some sort of mutation or cursed bloodline?

I don't care too much about mechanical balance. If it's not outright game breaking, it's probably ok. And this seems ok to me. Like you said, a few class based perks might do the trick.

What those might be? They feel almost psionic to me. That might suit the alien nature of the race as well.

Lastly, their physical description (colorless, pale skin, faded eyes) seems at odd with their cultural identity (deeply in tune with the world around them, community). White hair and faded pupils feels very sterile and lifeless, distant, but definitely alien. Yet, their cultural descriptors feel like they should be more vibrant and colorful (think Avatar). I would imagine a people like this might have green hued skin, hair or eyes. Or even blue.

Since none of my players get on here I can give a little info, what little I have determined already any way. They really are aliens. From another plane. My plan was to use them in a future high level campaign where the players would find this out. So far no one is playing one. They are just NPCs that are odd and very focused on living in harmony with their place in the world.

Through out our games I have woven some "legends" about the Dro'tan home land. And purposely made them contradictory. Making the players interested. But not giving them enough time to dig any deeper. A Dro'tan monk told the players that his father's father came from the home land in a ship, and that he was fleeing a great evil. Another old Dro'than sage (wizard) told the players the home of his fathers was a world of peace and light. and could only be reached by "star doors".

As far as game balance, I'm not really worried about balance so much as I don't want them only "worth playing" as one class or another. As a rogue or a class with many class skills of different abilitiy scores they look good. As a some other classes like fighter it is hard to show "single minded dedication" with out just giving out bonuses to combat.

Ronin77 wrote:Since none of my players get on here I can give a little info, what little I have determined already any way. They really are aliens. From another plane. My plan was to use them in a future high level campaign where the players would find this out. So far no one is playing one. They are just NPCs that are odd and very focused on living in harmony with their place in the world.

Through out our games I have woven some "legends" about the Dro'tan home land. And purposely made them contradictory. Making the players interested. But not giving them enough time to dig any deeper. A Dro'tan monk told the players that his father's father came from the home land in a ship, and that he was fleeing a great evil. Another old Dro'than sage (wizard) told the players the home of his fathers was a world of peace and light. and could only be reached by "star doors".

Love it.