Buying off Racial disadvantages[]
Racial disadvantages with self control modifiers may be bought down to "15 or less" at character creation. After character creation they may be bought down to a quirk, at a rate of one level per adventure, but no further.
Racial Social Stigmas may be reduced after character creation, but only if the PCs are successful in delving and prove their worth.
Sense of Duty: Nature[]
All racial templates with this disadvantage may replace it with a combination of the following traits totaling the same point value, if they choose. See also Sense of Duty: Nature for more information if you don't replace it.
- Level 1 or Level 2 Green Mind [-5 or -10], from GURPS Plant Magic. Higher levels are generally too sedentary for adventuring.
- Code of Honor: Forest Protector. Defend all woodlands from those who attempt to burn it, fell its trees, or destroy it by other means. Keep its secrets. Use its resources in a respectful way. Be humble toward druids and toward clerics and mages dedicated to the woodland. Oppose the idea of the forest as a possession, owned by any individual, country, or institution. [-10]
- Intolerance (Anyone involved in woodcutting, charcoal burning, etc.) [-5]
- Sense of Duty (Forest) [-10*] Plants and animals, but only in treed areas.
- Sense of Duty (Plants) [-10*] Applies to normal plants, magical plants, animate plants, and even plant-people if any ever show up (rare).
- Sense of Duty (Animals) [-10*]. Applies to IQ 5 or lower creatures that do not have special keywords like "Elder Thing", "Demonic", "Elemental" etc.
- Vow (Use animal material only if gathered without severe injury to the animal) [-5]
- Vow (Use plant material only if gathered without severe injury to the plant) [-5]
- Vow (Strict Carnivore) [-5]
- Vow (Vegetarian) [-5]
Coleopterans[]
Replace DR 5 (Cannot Wear Armor, -40%) with DR 3 (Touch Transmissive, -10%) [14] and the Coleopteran Mutations perk outlined below. Remove Racial Appearance and replace with Social Stigma (Minority Group).
Net template cost increases to 81 points.
Coleopterans can wear armor, but they cannot share any armor piece with any other race. Armor bought at character creation costs the usual amount, but once in play ordering armor in humanoid lands counts as a Special Order and costs an additional +50%. Humanoid armor cannot be refitted for Coleopterans.
Touch Transmissive DR: DR with this limitation does not offer a bonus to resist Afflictions, and does not prevent skin-to-skin contact for Touch effects. This DR counts as "natural" for the purposes of spells that bypass "natural" DR but not "artificial" DR. -10%. Touch Transmissive DR is not Flexible (unlike Tough Skin) and does not count 0 damage cut/pi/imp attacks as penetrating for the purposes of poison (unlike Tough skin). Can otherwise be considered a form of Tough Skin.
Coleopteran Mutations: Coleopterans' have a very large amount of genetic diversity. Like the Divine Gifts perk, this perk opens up further advantages that can be bought either at character creation or later with acquired points.
Sample Coleopteran Mutations[]
- Burrowing (perk) [1] - You dig with your hands as fast as a man with a shovel.
- Tunneling (Slow, 1y/2min) [6] - See GURPS Powers p.85 for details
- Flight (Gliding; Large Wings) [10], Flight (Cannot Hover; Large Wings) [24], or Flight (Large Wings) [30]
- Up to 3 more points of Touch-Transmissive DR [4, 9, or 13 pts]
- Replace Teeth (Sharp) [1] with Teeth (Fangs) [2]
- Striking Surface (Hands) [1], Striking Surface (Feet) [1], Blunt Claws [3], or Sharp Claws [5]
- 2 more Extra Arms [20], 2 Extra Legs [5], to a maximum of 8 limbs in total.
- Spinnerets [19] - a metatrait consisting of Binding ST 15 (Reduced Range 1/10, Costs 2 FP) [18] and Climbing Line (perk) [1]
- Chemical Spit (ACC 0; 1/2D 5, Max 10) [8 or 12]. This attack costs 2 FP and uses DX or Innate Attack (Breath) to hit; as a jet it does not suffer range penalties. It must hit the victim on exposed skin or Tough Skin DR to have an effect, and the victim may dodge or block with a shield, but not parry.
Struck victims must roll HT or suffer Moderate Pain [8] or Terrible Pain [12] for 1 minute per margin of failure).
Notes: this is an Affliction with Jet, Contact Agent, and Costs Fatigue 2. Counts as a Poison effect. - Reduced Consumption (Cast-Iron Stomach) 2 [2]
- Nictitating Membrane 1 or 2 [1 or 2]
- Glow Worm [1] - may spend 1 FP to shed light that removes darkness penalties in a 2-yard radius for up to 12 hours. You may turn this off at will, but must spend 1 FP to turn it back on.
- Fiddler Claw [15] - One of your arms is an oversized crab-like gripping limb.
- Effects: This arm and hand gains +1 DR, and may grip and grapple one-handed without suffering one-handed penalties. Further you gain +5 effective ST with this arm for gripping and grappling, and you are treated as +1 SM larger when using this arm for techniques that depend on SM. You may club with this hardened limb using DX or Brawling for +1 damage/die, and may parry as if armed with a weapon. The down side is that this arm becomes clumbsy, treat as having Ham-Fisted 2 whenever you use it on a task.
- This is metatrait consisting of DR+1 (Partial, Arm and Hand, -40%; Touch Transmissive -10%)[3], Extra Arm (Only for making a one handed grapple two-handed, -50%) [5], Lifting ST +5 (Only to grapple with Fiddler Claw, -60%) [6], Oversized Arm (perk, arm counts as SM+1 for purposes of bear-hugging/choking) [1], Striker (Crushing; Limb: Arm, -20%) [4], Ham-Fisted 2 (One-Hand, -60%) [-4]
Fae Races[]
All fae templates from DF3 have Dependency: Mana replaced with "Pick 25 points of disadvantages from the General Fae Races Disadvantages List or from the list appropriate to your specific race". These disadvantage are Racial, not personal, and do not count towards your personal disad limit.
"Iron" includes Steel and Meteoric Iron, as well as Dwarven shields, Silver-Edged (but not solid silver) weapons, and Mirrored shields that are not Silver. It does not affect Orichalcum, Mithril, etc.
- Dread (Iron; Common) [-20, -2/extra level]
- Dread (Holy Symbols; Occasional) [-10, -1/extra level]
- Magic Susceptibility [-3/level]
- Revulsion (Iron; Common) [-10]
- Trickster [-15*]
- Vow: Cannot Harm A Person Wearing A Turned Coat* [-5]
- Vulnerability (x2 Damage; Iron; "Uncommon") [-25] (Higher levels will be rapidly fatal and are not permitted)
- Vulnerability (Meteoric Iron; Rare) [-10/-15/-20]
- Weakness (Holy Artifacts, Blessed areas, and Holy Consecrated ground; Occasional) [-5/-10/-20]
- Weakness (Unholy Artifacts, Cursed areas, and Unholy Consecrated ground; Occasional) [-5/-10/-20]
- Weakness (No or Twisted Mana areas; Rare) [-2/-5/-10]
These disadvantages are good choices for buying off Racial Disadvantages, and generally the GM won't object to any of them being removed either at character creation or during play.
It's public knowledge that fae have all sorts of strange restrictions, but the average man on the street/in the delve isn't clued in to the specifics. Hidden Lore: Fae can be used to deduce one of an observed fae's weaknesses (or all on a critical success).
* "Turned Coat" in this case refers to the victim's outer layer of clothing worn inside out. It must be prominent and visible - a cloak worn inside out, a jacket or long coat, would count. A sock or belt or garter or underpants do NOT count. Flexible armors cannot be worn inside out unless they can be concealed AS clothing, not just UNDER clothing. Some items, i.e. a simple unhemmed piece of cloth worn as a cape or poncho, do not have a distinguishable in/out side and offer no protection. GMs ruling in all ambiguous cases is final.
Be aware that superstitious peasants and the occasional stupid humanoids could be found wearing clothing inside out.
"Cannot Harm" counts as per Pacifist "Cannot Harm Innocents". The value is rated at -5 because while it's rarely encountered, once foes discover this weakness it can be trivially easy for them to exploit.
Faun specific options[]
- Bad Appearance [-3/-6]
- Chummy [-5 or -10]
- Compulsive Carousing [-5*]
- Cowardice [-10*]
- Intolerance: City Folk [-5]
- Jealousy [-10]
- Laziness [-10]
- Quirk level versions of any of the above except Bad Appearance [-1 each]
Cowardice, Compulsive Carousing, and Ugly make for classical Greek Satyrs. Gregarious, Compulsive Carousing, and Laziness makes for classical Italian Fauns. Note that being drunk helps offset Cowardice...
Leprechaun specific options[]
- Miserliness [-10*]
- Greed [-15*]
- Spell of Luck [-6]: Your Luck advantage is Mana Sensitive, can be temporarily disabled by magic disrupting attacks and spells, is reduced proportionately in low mana areas (reduced to Extraordinary Luck in Low -3, and to plain Luck in Low -6), and shuts down entirely in no-mana regions.
Dryad specific options[]
- Shyness [-5, -10, or -20]
- Enchanting Beauty [-4]: Your Appearance and Charisma are Mana Sensitive, can be temporarily disabled by magic disrupting attacks and spells, are reduced proportionately in low mana areas (reaction bonuses are reduced to 2/3rds normal in Low -3, reduced to 1/3 normal in Low -6), and shut down entirely in no-mana regions.
- Glamorous Appearance [-10]: Your Appearance and Charisma are a subtle and innate charm effect. Not only do you suffer all the effects of Enchanting Beauty (above) but your charms are completely lost on creatures Immune to Mind Control (such as Golems and the undead), and others may make a Will roll to see through the illusion to your true, rather boring looking, form. (Glamour limitation from Powers). Magic Resistance, Mind Shield, and Resistant to Mind Control all provide a bonus on this resistance roll.
Pixie specific options[]
- Curious [-5*]
- Impulsiveness [-10*]
- Short Attention Span [-10*]
- Enchanted Flight [-4]: Your Flight ability is Mana Sensitive, can be temporarily disabled by magic disrupting attacks and spells, and is reduced proportionately in low mana areas (Flight Move is reduced to 2/3rds normal in Low -3, reduced to 1/3 normal in Low -6), and shuts down entirely in no-mana regions. You take a penalty equal to the Mana penalty on Flight skill checks when in areas below Normal mana as well. High Mana areas do not impart a speed or skill bonus.
Elves[]
Appearance: Attractive has had a price change; High Elves, Winged Elves, and Wood elves cost 1 point less each (19 points).
All elves are allowed the options listed above under Sense of Duty (Nature) except Shadow Elves and Half-Elves, who don't give a hoot about nature.
Gargoyles[]
Appearance: Ugly has had a price change. Gargoyles now cost 27 points.
Goblin Kin[]
Goblins[]
Goblins remove racial Ugly, add Restricted Diet (Meat and animal products) and Reduced Consumption 2 (Cast Iron Stomach) [2] - they can't eat veggies at all, but they can eat some pretty disgusting animal parts. Goblin travel rations cost the same as human rations but are absolutely foul, cause reaction penalties when people realize you plan to EAT them, and tend to attract vermin.
Final point cost remains the same.
Half-Orcs[]
Half-Orcs replace Social Stigma (Savage) with Social Stigma (Half-Breed) and Restricted Diet (Meat and animal products; Substitution: human vegetarian food). Half-Orcs can eat vegetables if they've been either fermented or boiled into an anonymous mush, but it makes them gassy. Fresher vegetables and grain-products of all types tend to really upset their stomachs - make a HT roll after each meal or suffer -1 to HT until going back on a safe diet for at least a day, and suffer a -1 to Self Control rolls due to the discomfort. This does nothing to improve Half-Orcs attitudes or popularity. Half Orcs either spend 50% more on meaty rations, or take double-weight rations to get fermented or stewed vegetables.
Half-Orcs may optionally buy Reduced Consumption 2 (Cast Iron Stomach) [2] to eat Goblin rations instead.
Final point cost becomes 21 due to the changed price of Appearance, or is increased to 23 if the half-orc has a Cast Iron Stomach.
Hobgoblins[]
Same changes as Goblins; hobgoblins can eat Goblin rations with no difficulty.
Final point cost remains the same.
Orcs[]
Same changes as Goblins; orcs can eat Goblin rations with no difficulty.
Final point cost remains the same.
Halflings[]
Replace "Gluttony (12) [-5]; Kleptomania (12) [-15]" with "Choose -20 points worth of the following disadvantages: Charitable (12-) [-15], Gluttony (12-) [-5], Curious (12-) [-5]; Kleptomania (12-) [-15]".
This covers the "good hearted and childlike", "good hearted and big eater", and the "nosy sticky-fingered" archetypes, along with the "sticky-fingered big eater" archetype. NPC Halflings may also choose Mundane Background and Hidebound - combined with Gluttony you get hobbits.
Half-Spirits[]
Replace the Sanctity related Weakness with a Weakness to explicitly consecrated areas, areas infused with divine presence, and divine artifacts.
Celestials[]
Replace "Weakness (Cursed areas and areas of high or better sanctity to Evil gods; Occasional; 1d/minute) [-20]" with "Weakness (Unholy Artifacts, Cursed Areas, and Unholy Consecrated areas; Occasional; 1d/minute) [-20]"
Infernals[]
Replace "Weakness (Blessed areas and areas of high or better sanctity to Good gods; Occasional; 1d/minute) [-20]" with "Weakness (Holy Artifacts, Blessed areas, and Holy Consecrated areas; Occasional; 1d/minute) [-20]".
Minotaurs[]
Template cost increases to 46 points. Replace racial Berserk and Appearance with Social Stigma: Minority Group and Restricted Diet (Meat). Minotaurs are not oxymoronic "peaceful" pastorals with hair triggers, they're cranky carnivorous brutes and not welcome in human society. Minotaurs pay 50% extra for "meaty" rations.
Minotaur barbarians cannot "double up" on Social Stigma: Minority group, and should either "upgrade" it to Social Stigma: Monster and another -5 points from the Barbarian disadvantage list (or upgrade the Minotaur Bad Temper to 9-), or choose another -10 points of Barbarian disadvantages.
Ogres[]
Increase template cost to 46 points. Remove racial Appearance and add Bad Smell.
Ogres interested in adventuring in dungeons may wish to train the Low Fighting technique, to help with fighting under low ceilings.
Half-Ogres[]
Increase template cost to 23 points. Remove racial Appearance and add Odious Personal Habit: Funky [-5].