Racial Stats for the Darrian/Daryens?
- Thread starter sinbadsam
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BetterThanLife
SOC-14 1K
I would probably give them the TL16 EDU Bonus, even though effective current (1100's) TL is 13. As for Reasearch Affinity, that is more of a Roleplaying issue and I would point that out to the Player rolling up a Darrian but not force it in a set of skills or feats. (To allow for normal variation, as not all Darrians will want to be researchers.) I would still treat them as Humans, giving them the bonus skills and initial bonus feat. (Which a mainstream Darrian would probably use for Research related or Artistic skills.)
Gents,
I don't know how you can translate this to T20 but here are a few Darrian 'quirks' from AM:8.
- Their pelvis is broader than Zhodani, Vilani, or Solomani. They don't have the usual knock-kneed look other human skeletons have. This helps with childbirth but also makes it hard for them to walk on a balance beam.
- Their metabolism can reset rapidly and easily. Feast or famine, they burn whatever amount of calories they take in, so no blubbery couch potatos or fewer of them. Whether this is a conscious ability or not I don't know.
- They can tolerate higher ozone levels than all other branches of humaniti. The Solomani who settled on Darrian chose to use a retrovirus to provide themselves with the same tolerance.
- They have a different form of melanin. They turn 'golden' rather than brown or black under UV light and their version of melanin provides better protection than the norm.
- They have different hair and eye colors, but I don't remember which ones. Either Daryen or his website should have the answer to that one.
- They're more likely to be left-handed or ambidexterous than the human norm. The connection between the hemispheres of their brains (corpus collipsum or some such?) is larger on average than the other branches of humaniti.
- Thanks to the Orchards and Firepits, they evolved in what was essentially an 'urban' enviroment for far longer than any other branch of humaniti. AM:8 flatly states that Darrians have fewer organic psychiatric illnesses than the other branches of humaniti because of this. Please note, this means the Darrians have fewer overall mental illnesses to begin with while the Zhos simply manage to cure almost all of their's!
- On his website Daryen suggests that the Darrian love of research is another little white lie like the TL16 fleet and the Star Trigger. He correctly points out that they advanced extremely rapidly pre-Maghiz but have barely advanced at all post-Maghiz. Daryen also notes that, if anyone should be afraid of research, it's the Darrians. They nearly blew up their star after all. He suggests that the Darrians' research may be 'trivial', more like antiquarian research than bleeding edge research. A Darrian would be more likely to pour over the rules to a certain RPG parsing text and phrases than performing original research with a cyclotron.
Hope this helps.
Have fun,
Bill
P.S. I misspelled 'Maghiz' didn't I?
I don't know how you can translate this to T20 but here are a few Darrian 'quirks' from AM:8.
- Their pelvis is broader than Zhodani, Vilani, or Solomani. They don't have the usual knock-kneed look other human skeletons have. This helps with childbirth but also makes it hard for them to walk on a balance beam.
- Their metabolism can reset rapidly and easily. Feast or famine, they burn whatever amount of calories they take in, so no blubbery couch potatos or fewer of them. Whether this is a conscious ability or not I don't know.
- They can tolerate higher ozone levels than all other branches of humaniti. The Solomani who settled on Darrian chose to use a retrovirus to provide themselves with the same tolerance.
- They have a different form of melanin. They turn 'golden' rather than brown or black under UV light and their version of melanin provides better protection than the norm.
- They have different hair and eye colors, but I don't remember which ones. Either Daryen or his website should have the answer to that one.
- They're more likely to be left-handed or ambidexterous than the human norm. The connection between the hemispheres of their brains (corpus collipsum or some such?) is larger on average than the other branches of humaniti.
- Thanks to the Orchards and Firepits, they evolved in what was essentially an 'urban' enviroment for far longer than any other branch of humaniti. AM:8 flatly states that Darrians have fewer organic psychiatric illnesses than the other branches of humaniti because of this. Please note, this means the Darrians have fewer overall mental illnesses to begin with while the Zhos simply manage to cure almost all of their's!
- On his website Daryen suggests that the Darrian love of research is another little white lie like the TL16 fleet and the Star Trigger. He correctly points out that they advanced extremely rapidly pre-Maghiz but have barely advanced at all post-Maghiz. Daryen also notes that, if anyone should be afraid of research, it's the Darrians. They nearly blew up their star after all. He suggests that the Darrians' research may be 'trivial', more like antiquarian research than bleeding edge research. A Darrian would be more likely to pour over the rules to a certain RPG parsing text and phrases than performing original research with a cyclotron.
Hope this helps.
Have fun,
Bill
P.S. I misspelled 'Maghiz' didn't I?
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
I would refrain from the TL-16 EDU homeworld bonus, unless they actually came from those worlds of theirs bearing that TL. Many of the Darrian worlds bear the Govt. type 5--Feudal Technocracy. Thus, IMTU I do not see that as a blanket-wide approach that all are educated equally.
I would in T20 treat them as a Mixed Human race (where Minor races fall). The physiological visual & internal differences are not enough to start
I would though,(For lack of better explanation at present), give them instead a bonus feat for the aesthetics for the arts, which is a cultural thing all of them share. And failing to see even in the new PHB pdf such a feat, perhaps the appraisal feat in lieu of that, aimed specifically not at the Crimp value of an object, but the beauty, symmetry, and artistic craftsmanship of the work of an item. To go with that, the player's choice of Craft skill.
This can be applied in all walks of life:
+ The beauty of the craftsmanship in a well worked Hunting rifle for an Aslan member of the Household...to the paint scheme on an Aslani vessel.
+ The cleanliness, symmetry and organization of a Vilani accountant's book keeping records, financial accounts, or a family genealogical archives.
+ The beauty, aesthetics, and symmetry of a Tapmazali gardener's cherished house garden..and so on.
+The beauty in a well designed Noble's yacht, (interior, or exterior), warship, or merchanter.
+The layout of a city, buildings, etc.
Mssr daryen of these boards called them at worst the OTU's "Vulcan-lite" race.
Lest you think my opinion of the Darrians as a bunch of dispassionate, effete dilettantes with pointy ears, far from it. I do not see them as such, nor a people who take the old, well designed, crafted and well cared for item, building, ship and shrug saying "so what?". They are a race who rose to greatness swiftly,and lost it just as easily. They have an appreciation for the works of wonder from the past, but are slow to "re-invent all the wheels" due to the swiftness with which they lost their civilization. The pursuit of "High tech things" and unbridled science, without the reigns of prudence and caution is a lesson all darrians know in the OTU.
My take only, and YMMV.
Happy New Year ya'll!
I would in T20 treat them as a Mixed Human race (where Minor races fall). The physiological visual & internal differences are not enough to start
I would though,(For lack of better explanation at present), give them instead a bonus feat for the aesthetics for the arts, which is a cultural thing all of them share. And failing to see even in the new PHB pdf such a feat, perhaps the appraisal feat in lieu of that, aimed specifically not at the Crimp value of an object, but the beauty, symmetry, and artistic craftsmanship of the work of an item. To go with that, the player's choice of Craft skill.
This can be applied in all walks of life:
+ The beauty of the craftsmanship in a well worked Hunting rifle for an Aslan member of the Household...to the paint scheme on an Aslani vessel.
+ The cleanliness, symmetry and organization of a Vilani accountant's book keeping records, financial accounts, or a family genealogical archives.
+ The beauty, aesthetics, and symmetry of a Tapmazali gardener's cherished house garden..and so on.
+The beauty in a well designed Noble's yacht, (interior, or exterior), warship, or merchanter.
+The layout of a city, buildings, etc.
Mssr daryen of these boards called them at worst the OTU's "Vulcan-lite" race.
Lest you think my opinion of the Darrians as a bunch of dispassionate, effete dilettantes with pointy ears, far from it. I do not see them as such, nor a people who take the old, well designed, crafted and well cared for item, building, ship and shrug saying "so what?". They are a race who rose to greatness swiftly,and lost it just as easily. They have an appreciation for the works of wonder from the past, but are slow to "re-invent all the wheels" due to the swiftness with which they lost their civilization. The pursuit of "High tech things" and unbridled science, without the reigns of prudence and caution is a lesson all darrians know in the OTU.
My take only, and YMMV.
Happy New Year ya'll!
BetterThanLife
SOC-14 1K
How about making Craft a Class skill regardless of Class? That would show the tendency with still varying levels of actual craftsmanship.
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
BTL, explain why, please? Are you suggesting that all Darrian's have a craft skill due to their Feudal technocracy form of government/ culture?
BetterThanLife
SOC-14 1K
According to AM8 they are heavily into art, in various forms. Though since I hadn't read it in a while, I looked it up. I would put it high on the list but not quite as high on the list as Gather Information as a Class skill regardless of class. Which seems to be a more universal trait. So perhaps, switch those two and let the craft skill be more of a roleplaying choice.
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
I can see that, the Gathering Information as either a racial skill, with a racial Bonus +1 if they take it, based on their painstaking research techniques.
I would avoid the Craft skill per se, to swerve away from the possibility of mistaking the Darrians for a tallfellow race of Tinker-beardless Gnomes.*
For the artistic portion, perhaps a variant of the Appraise feat: 'Artistic Appraisal'?
*With all due apologies to the Dragon Lance authors Hickman & Weiss
I would avoid the Craft skill per se, to swerve away from the possibility of mistaking the Darrians for a tallfellow race of Tinker-beardless Gnomes.*
For the artistic portion, perhaps a variant of the Appraise feat: 'Artistic Appraisal'?
*With all due apologies to the Dragon Lance authors Hickman & Weiss
