I am currently working on converting 4e to Birthright as such I want to share the proceedings with this community. Anyone that wants to loan me a hand or give constructive criticism is welcomed but that doesn’t mean that I will adapt the ideas but it is nice to have variety.
Alot of the fluff will be pulled from both the original campaign and the updated 3e playtest rules.
Reserved for Racial Modification from the Core Rules
Current Racial Modifications
Dragonborn (Removed) - Unknown replacement at current.
Dwarf (Not Modified) - Possible changes in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian Dwarves.
Eladrin (Replaced) - Replaced by the Sidhelien
Elf (Replaced) - Replaced by the Sidhelien
Half-Elf (Not Modified) - Possible Changes in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian Half-Elves.
Halfling (Replaced) - Replaced by the Cerilian halflings.
Human (Not Modified) - Possible Change in the future to add the five Cerilian subraces of humans.
Tiefling (Removed) - Replaced by Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears.
Goblins (Not Modified) - Use Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears from the Monster Manual; Possible Change in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian goblins.
Current Progress
Sidhelien Text document Added - Missing two adventurer fluff for a rogue and a wizard.
Races Modifications added
Cerilian halflings added - missing the three sample adventurer fluff.
Anuireans added.
12/25 - Anuireans removed.
Reserved for Class Modification from the Core Rules
Reserved for Skill and Feat Modifications from the Core Rules
Reserved for Birthright specific system modifications from the Core Rules.
Reserved for Author Commentary on the conversion process.
Racial Modifications: I removed Dragonborn and Tieflings because there is literally none of them within the Birthright canon and I do not feel that adding them is a good idea and based on articles in Dragon magazine it seems to be my choice to disallow races even if they are “Core”. The reason for adding Shadow Walk (Fey Step) to halflings is based on their second edition routes of being able to “Dimension Door” three times per week and it seems to me that they would have just been bending the shadow world and passing through it instanteously and since alot of old things got an upgrade I went ahead and used what I saw as an upgraded version of this.
Sidhelien: I was caught between which race to use eladrin or elves and thought about just allowing both that are just seen as Sidhelien much like goblinoid variations are all just goblins. This can still be an option for easily conversion of the material but in the end I wanted something that combined both the eladrin and elf into the Sidhelien. I considered between giving them Wild Step and a power based on Infernal Wrath (Tiefling) called gheallie Sidhe but instead went with a more powerful version of wild step and ultimately closer in flavor to the pass without trace (2e) or Nature Stride (3e) based on the Water Gensei’s Swiftcurrent racial power from Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide. I followed the ability modifiers of the old Sidhelien and was caught on the later skill bonuses but just settled on Perception and Arcana over History and Nature though it was a hard decision and one I am not completely set on.
Cerilian Halflings: I tried to get them as close to the 2e as possible and decided on an ability where they pretty much instantly pass though the shadow world like their Dimension Door and Shadow Walk ability of 2e. Originally was going to go with the Fey Step as the bases for the power but then I found Shadar-kai Shadow Jaunt ability from the MM and it seemed almost a perfect fit to my mind. I changed their ability modifiers to be more inline with 2e and therefore it changes their ‘favored’ class make-up making them extremely good rangers, and puts the cleric class with it’s wisdom key as a better class choice then the former Warlock choice.
Obviously 2e Anuireans had a bonus to wis and I seen alot of people trying to give the Anuireans a +2 to Cha but I thought their “diplomatic” side was better served by the + to diplomacy and then the ability to grant diplomatic increases to their companions like a half-elf. Since they are a warrior race as well the +2 strength made good sense to me and their +2 str, +2 wis makes them good for paladins aka knights.
Having different human “cultures” is an essential part of the setting. Whether you make them separate races or merely put in “variant” skill/feat structures - something must address the fact that they are so different. It is a major part of what drives the setting.
I completely agree. I won’t be playing 4E, but you cannot not have separate human subraces in Cerilia.
That is one decision that I am struggling on at this moment which is whether to force the humans to use their +2 mod in a culture related stat and define their free skill OR make five completely new races based on the human subraces. I am leaning towards the first because building a new race can certainly be a daunting task! It took me quite a few hours to get Sidhelien together but that was my first race to ever build in 4e.
There are a couple of ways to make the conversion … some are hard and some arn’t so hard.
Force the +2 stat into different spots depending on location. Vos +2 Str, Brecht +2 Dex, Anuire +2 Charimsa, Khansi +2 Int … something like that. Those were just off the top of my head.
Instead a free feat of their choice give them a regional feats instead, but allow the +2 to any stat remain.
To get into more detail you could treat them more like a typical race and have a +2 to two different stats and give them bonus skills depending on their area.
I would think keep it simple at first but include a variant that might have more flavor.
Mechanical differences can be helpful, but the cultural differences are mostly role play.
The versatile +2 stat bonus for humans…and their other abilities…makes the race very versatile. If you take that away and replaced it with something fixed, then you’re seriously undermining the whole racial concept.
The notion of humans as Mr. Versatility is a concept that belongs in vanilla D&D, not BR.
To take it a step further. To keep true to 4th edition.
Make their starting feat a choice of whatever regional feat they have access to. They have the option to take the other regional feats at any point in their adventuring life or not at all.
after taken a quick skim through the new forgotten realms player’s guide, Here is an idea to deal with the humans
I agree totally.
The versatility of Humans is part of the game balance. The other Races get a fixed +4
If I were to run a 4th campain I would fix the scores for most NPC’s, but allow the floater for PC characters and some NPC’s… For example, Anuireans have a tendency towards wisdom, but some individuals have other strenghts…
Why is this not true for elves, dwarves, halflings, goblins (a race that certainly looks diverse), or anyone else? If ever humans were ready to wear hats in a setting, BR would be that setting.
So I will ask, is this a PC’s are special situation, where if you did an elf campaign you might allow free floating bonus? Or allow Sidhelien to select either elves or eladrin?
Or is this a humans are special type of thing?
I’m perfectly happy to dispense with tropes and declare that all Brecht are not nautical guilders who are basically Han Solo variations who never abandon luck, wealth, and smuggling. But why then re-impose the trope of versatility on all humans? IMC, guilders wear their hat as lucky, merchant scoundrels, but actual Brecht you encounter often subvert the trope. Brecht nobles who are fighters on horseback, or scholarly wizards (Brecht wearing Anuirean and Khinasi hats respectively!) are common as encounters, especially when outside of Brechtur.
But as much as I like to subvert tropes, I don’t want to discredit them. While not all Brecht are rapier wielding rogues, they aren’t bastard sword wielders either. I don’t go from one of the lightest to one of the heaviest swords.
I’m not a fan of mechanical fixes that force tropes, but I’m not against them either. What I do not want is that elves, dwarves, et al are given mechanical hats and humans are mechanically versatile. I’d rather see Brecht have a +2 Dex and use that creatively (more than just rapiers) than see Brecht be “versatile humans” and select any bonus to create any character type.
The versatile human is a hat just as much as hard-drinking, honorable, miner is for dwarves. Its not a game balance issue, its a trope. You can balance Brechts against Anuireans, dwarves, and so on with the right advantages for each of the five nations.
If you do force the ability bonus based on region/ancestry, then there should be two +2s available, just like all other races that have forced ability bonuses. For instance:
Anuirean: +2 Wis, +2 Cha
Brecht: +2 Dex, +2 Cha
Khinasi: +2 Int, +2 Wis
Rjurik: +2 Con, +2 Wis
Vos: +2 Str, +2 Con
I’d like to see a mirror of the backgrounds from Player’s Guide to Faerun, but even more significant. Someone proposed having almost background classes to accommodate the non-adventuring side of BR, since adventure balance is lost if you force characters to sacrifice adventure powers for non-adventure (domain rulership) powers and vice versa (competing for the same feat and power slots, for example). I like that idea, though perhaps it is more easily related to the Templates (as long as they don’t give hp or as many hp) and provide domain-playlevel powers appropriate to the background–Farmer, Frontiersman, Artisan, Merchant, Clergy, Noble, whatever.
I am with you on this as a few others I think agree about backgrounds. They serve as a great way to help define a character at creation. I would even go as far as to say they can get some sort of bonus depending on the background. Noble might get a bonus to diplomacy. Frontiersman would get a bonus to survival. It shouldn’t be huge, but certainly a perk for helping define your character.
If you remove the ability of humans to put their +2 wherever they want, then you would have to give them +4 instead like you listed very nicely above.
The other side that is important are regional feats or powers. As Ken said above not every Brecht is a swashbuckling sailor … but if we put in a couple of well placed feats that only Brecht people can take, then it makes Brecht folks easier at becoming swashbuckling sailors but not a requirement.
-BB