Races (FiD)

These are fantasy races for use with Blades in the Dark. If these rules are in play, each character selects a race at character creation and gains the corresponding special ability.

Human

The basis of comparison for other races. Humans are the most common people, and the most widely adaptable.

Special Ability—Adroit: Humans start with an additional advance, either an action or a special ability available to their playbook.

Dwarf

Short and stout compared to humans, dwarves are strong and more enduring but not as agile in mind or body. Dwarfs prefer to live in mines or burrows and are craftsmen extraordinaire.

Dwarfs are short, stubborn, conservative, hard workers and tend the backbone of society. Proud and industrious folk, slow to forgive insults but staunch allies to their friends. A typical dwarf is between 120 and 150 cm long (4' to 5') and weigh about as much as a human at 50 to 90 kilos (110 to 200 lbs). Male dwarfs are very proud of their beards but baldness is common among them. Females have great mops of head hair and sometimes sideburns, but as a rule no beards. There is not much difference in appearance, dress, and mannerisms between the genders, it is common for dwarven females to be seen as dwarf youths by outsiders. Dwarves like this just fine as adult dwarves have very few gender differences in role and standing.

Role All dwarfs love work, and love to see the produce of their own work. They usually excel at some worldly craft, such as brewing, stonecraft, jewelry or metalworking. Not all dwarfs can work in such prestigious fields, however, and they do have their share of coopers, cobblers, tailors and even gardeners. All dwarfs show great respect for what has been brought about through sweat and toil. They are considered good craftsmen and workers, careful merchants, conscientious administrators and predictable, somewhat boorish nobles. A dwarf will never let go of a task until he considers it finished.

Politics Dwarfs prefer to live in their own kingdoms in mountain or hill terrain. The dwarf economy is based on mining and crafts. Dwarfs can produce food by herding and farming, but their kingdoms generally prefer to acquire foodstuffs by trade, exporting metal and stoneware in exchange for organic produce of all kinds. In a dwarven kingdom, each dwarf is supposed to be both a craftsman and a warrior; the militia tradition is very strong with them. This makes a dwarf-hold very strong in arms, but able to mount offensives only at great cost to civilian life.

Integration Dwarfs integrate well with humans as skilled labor. There is often a dwarven quarter in larger human settlements, an area dominated by and scaled to dwarfs where nonhumans are more welcome that otherwise. They get along less well with other races, particularly ones they consider less serious and dependable, such as elves.

Family Dwarfs have lifespans of about 150 years, and mature in about the same time humans do, but are not considered fully adult until they have passed their family age at around fifty years. Family life is intense; dwarfs marry early and couples have several children in a few decades up to age 50. A lone dwarf child is seen as tragic, but also with great heroic potential; the destiny of a whole brood compressed into one individual.

Vices There is a backside to all the dwarven thrift. All dwarfs are materialistic and worldly, some are greedy and avaricious, hoarding wealth, knowledge and all things precious. They live in close-knit family groups, and dwarf children are heavily sheltered. Dwarfs take great pride in their word and will not break it for anything, but they know this trait in themselves. This means they are unwilling to commit to something without great cause. Dwarfs are also clannish, and feuds between clans can turn ugly.

Special Ability—Stonesense: Dwarves have a sonic sense that works as sight out to 10 meters as long as there is a connection of stone, but can detect only shape and composition not color or pattern. This also gives them a +1d bonus on Study, Survey, and Tinker rolls relating to stone or metal.

Elf

Elves are fey creatures, otherworldly, not fully of the material plane. While they have many things in common with other folk, they are magical and lead enchanted lives.

Appearance Elves are shorter and slighter than men, usually about 150 cm (5') tall. They resemble human adolescents, and facial or body hair is unusual. Head hair is fine, and often plentiful. Some elves have odd physical features, such as extremely long hair, horns, vestigial fur, fangs, webbed hands and feet, claws or unusual colors. Such peculiarities are often associated with particular bloodlines or clans.

Some elves live in other worlds, such as the Feywild. As the barriers between the worlds weaken, these elves become more common.

Role Elves are quite leisurely, and don't really enjoy hard work or physical labor. They cherish arts and crafts, but tend to regard them as diversions. A typical elf knows a little of many professions, being a master of none and changing profession as whims or markets dictate. Most have at least some experience as traders, artists, entertainers or performers. Sometimes, an elf becomes obsessed with a particular occupation or task, seeking absolute excellence in it to the exclusion of all else, but this is seen as quite unhealthy by other elves.

Politics Elven kingdoms are collections of individuals living together, often led by a charismatic leader with a cult of personality as the guiding force of the realm. There is no real sense of civic duty. Shared ideals and the initiative of charismatic individuals can get things done, but outsiders usually see nothing in the way of government. Magic makes it easy for elves to gain sustenance, so it is not as important as it is for other races.

Integration Elves are physically similar to humans, can live in the same houses, and enjoy the same food and the same diversions. High Elves and Runesparks are common in cities, and move about quite a bit over the course of their lives. They are usually welcome in human lands, but not as trusted as a well-known human or dwarf. It is said that an elf becomes your friend in the evening and forgets you when the sun rises. More true is that elves become friends with children and stay friends with youths, but humans often grow apart from their elven friends in middle age. Other elves are more reserved and mix less even with other elves.

Family With long life spans and few children, elves spend just a tiny part of their lives as parents. Most take to this unusual situation with sensual devotion, doting on both mother and child. Thus elves grow up pampered, which make them independent but somewhat emotionally vulnerable. Elves from mixed communities usually take to the children of other races.

Vices Elven self-confidence and demand for liberty easily gets bruised. Having had things go their way, elves can get sullen and rash when faced with opposition, unable to see the other side of an issue or have enough wherewithal to pursue a matter to the finish. They can also be vain and proud or lacking in confidence and self esteem. Tough rarely evil, they can be antisocial to a catastrophic degree.

Special Ability—Natural Power You have an association with Power without having to have a Power Playbook and the associated Trauma Condition. Using powers of this type is natural to you.

Almost all elves use Survey powers, giving credence to the notion of sharp elven senses. As soon as you pick up a Power Playbook to be able to learn additional powers, your Natural Power becomes subject to all the rules of that Power Playbook, including its Trauma Condition.

High Elf

Civilized elves living in settlements, sometimes as leaders among other elves. Elves have the physical appearance of a human in their late teens, along with pointed ears and slightly oversize eyes. They sport human hair colors, turning metallic as the elf ages. Such ancient high elves are referred to as grey elves and highly honored. Eyes are often of bright gem colors like turquoise or sapphire.

Special Ability—Light: You can use Light Powers.

Wood Elf

The most commonly seen type of elf, practical and civilized people living in tune with their forest homes. As a people they are very self-sufficient and elusive. An entire wood elven kingdom might escape the notice of an adjacent human nation. Wood elves have skins of pale earth tones such as greens or browns, sometimes changing complexion with the seasons. Their hair has similar colors in brighter patterns. They may not wear clothing, instead adorning themselves with garlands and flowers, and often use body paint.

Special Ability—Plant: You can use Plant Powers.

Gnome

Gnomes are small compared to other elves, with size and manners similar to humans around age twelve. They have pointed ears, slight but mature bodies, and males may have facial hair. Most are shy and live in forests and hills or work for High Elves elves in their settlements, but a few are gregarious and go out into the world to explore.

Special Ability—Light: You can use Illusion Powers.

Runesparks

Similar to Gnomes to the point that even elves get them mixed up, they are still thinner than a grown human. Many Runesparks have a talent for Artificing. They are gregarious and not shy about travel and dealing with other peoples, primarily other elves but also dwarves and humans, making them seem more common than they really are.

Special Ability—Metal: You can use Metal Powers.

Gruach

Wild Elves, called Gruach in Greyhawk, are considered barbarians by other elves. They live rustic lives accompanied by the animals that taught them to survive in harsh environments. Wild elves are ruddy or swarthy of complexion with wild hair with colors from the environment or from beats. Many have the eyes, tails, ears, or other features of animals.

Special Ability—Animal: You can use Animal Powers.

Eladrin

Eladrin are otherworldly and live in great citadel-cities in fairy, located in strategic locations to guard a planar boundary or to defend against some primordial evil. They come out of their cities to trade, explore, and mingle with high elves and occasionally other people. When seen in the mortal world, they live among and are often mistaken for High Elves. They share the High Elves' human skin tones.

Special Ability—Space: You can use Space Powers.

Feyniel

The unruly cousins of the Eladrin, Feyniel are the rustic nobility of faerie. Wandering tribes or inhabitants of fairy glens, Feyniel see themselves as the nobility and law-keepers of fairy. To outsiders the laws they keep to seem very much their own whims, and even Eladrin consider them odd. Feyniel are stately. From a distance they look large and regal, but up close they are similar to other elves. Some have human colors, others have saturated hues from the wild places they live.

Special Ability—Time: You can use Time Powers.

Drow

The dark elves or drow are the antithesis of the high elves. Civilized yet cruel and depraved, they live in isolated communities in the Netherworld, far from the light of the sun, most often at war with other elves. With the Netherworld coming closer to the prime and social upheaval in Drow societies, some have left their ancestral homes and are exploring the outer world, challenging their notion of Drow cultural superiority. Drow have shiny black or dark purple skins and long white hair. They are even more lithe than other elves, almost spidery.

Special Ability—Darkness: You can use Darkness Powers.

Shadar-Kai

Shadar-Kai or Shadow Fey are elves associated with the Shadowfell. These morbid creatures have pale skin and contrasting, dark or strongly colored physical details like hair, eyes, eye sockets, lips, and nails. They favor piercings, tattoos, wild hair and rich dark clothes, often torn or tattered. They are the elves of death and frequent old battlefields, graveyards and the shadowy forecourt of the land of death. Sometimes they can be met along the road, traveling from one such spot to another. Shadar-Kai are fascinated by death, but do not really grasp its meaning.

Special Ability—Order: You can use Mind Powers.

Nerids

Nerids love water and live in shallow seas, marshes, rivers, and lakes. Some tribes are amphibian, others mariners. Nerids have pearly complexions in white or soft colors, with brown, green, or pale gray hair and dark eyes that shift towards blue or sea green in bright light.

Special Ability—Water: You can use Water Powers.

Ice Elves

At homes on snow-shrouded mountain tops and glaciers, Ice Elves are elusive creatures living in forbidding environments where few others could survive. They depend on their remote location for protection. Ice elves are pale, with black or ice blue hair and eyes of different shades of blue.

Special Ability—Ice: You can use Ice Powers.

Jann

Elves of the desert, Jann thrive on heat and dance in the midday desert when no other things move. They have brick-colored skin, black hair and red, amber, or yellow eyes. Some Jann have hair matching their eye color, which is considered a mark of beauty

Special Ability—Fire: You can use Fire Powers.

Jinn

Creatures of the air, living on clouds, Jinn are rarely seen except when their clouds come down to earth as mist. Jinn have flashing eyes of bright primary colors but are otherwise pale to the point of translucence.

Special Ability—Air: You can use Air Powers.

Teuflings

Often the result of mixed influence from many other planes, the chaotic teuflings often show demonic traits; horns, pointed tails, tiny hooves. They are the least trusted of elves. In turn, many teuflings take their demonic reputation to heart and become rogues or tricksters. Previously rare to the point of being considered Forlorn, the planar invasions in the Shield Lands and Great Kingdom have created more teuflings born to human parents. Considered changelings, these babies are often discarded or sent to orphanages.

Special Ability—Flux: You can use Flux Powers.

Dis

Perhaps the most enigmatic of all elves, and also the most human-looking, the Dis are creatures of physical perfection, slim and stately. They live reclusive lives at spiritual places; even others who live there might only have perceived them trough the choral music they love to sing. When about in the world, it is to experience fate at work; they accompany heroes who live out a great destiny, good or bad.

Special Ability—Order: You can use Order Powers.

Forlorn

Not all elves fit neatly into the tribes. Variously refereed to as lost, forlorn, orphans, or prodigies, these elves either rebelled against their tribal traditions to grow into an unusual Power, or were brought up outside elven society and had the magic find them. Always regarded as outsiders, the prodigies are usually welcome among other elves but not fully trusted until they prove themselves. Their lack of facility for the tribe's magic often means they are unable to share in the subtler aspects of tribal culture. On the other hand, their unusual gifts can make them very valuable and praised members of a tribe. Sometimes forlorn elves of the same Form band together in small groups, which could potentially grow into new tribes over the centuries.

Forlorn elves may have unique physical oddities such as weird color or patterns on the body or additional, variant, or dislocated body parts (an extra nose, horns, overlong arms, inverted right and left limbs, and similar weirdness). These oddities follow no set pattern, that one Space prodigy has checkered skin does not mean they all do.

Special Ability—Joker: You can select any one Power with the GMs permission.

Halfling

Slightly taller than gnomes and more solidly built, Halflings resemble humans in their early teens, but with facial and foot hair.

Special Ability—Lithe: Halflings have +1d on Prowl rolls.

Centaur

Smallish horses with humanoid torso instead of an equine head and neck. Some have horse ears as well. This can also cover other quadruped people like alseid and bariaur.

Special Ability—Quadruped: Centaurs are faster than humans and better sprinters. You can run with the speed or a horse. You can use Hunt instead of Prowl for running and Hunt instead of Finesse in a chase. You can carry two additional items based on your load. A rider with a size matching your torso counts as two items.

Faun

Gregarious fey creatures of woods and meadows, some fauns are curious enough to explore the world. Humanoids with the lower body and some characteristics such as horns and ears of a goat.

Special Ability—Frolic: Fauns are very nimble and gain a +1d bonus on all Prowl actions not involving stealth. They also have the ability to turn water and fruit juice into wine, with better materials making for better vintage. Fauns gain +1d on Resolve rolls against creatures who are drunk on their wine.

Haregon

Hare-like furred humanoids with the build of 14-year old humans with rabbit ears, nose, and legs, Haregon are fey and carry the joy of the feywild with them. Intensely social, they try to mingle into the societies of others and are not above assuming the role of a servant or even pet to be accepted.

Special Ability—Leap: You can take great leaps from a standing start. You can leap the range of your tier (p 221), and other creatures rarely have the reaction to react to this leap. You need a few minutes of rest before you can leap again.

Orc

Large and brutish, orcs are the smallest of the giants and speak the giant tunge, which is quite similar to Dwarvish.

Special Ability—Echolocation: By making hoarse shouts, you get a sense of the landscape, especially hard materials like stone and metal. This allows you to navigate among stone as in daylight, not quite as good among earth, and poorly in overgrown areas. Living creatures are confusing like shadows, but still better than nothing.

Goblin

Kin to gnomes and halflings, goblins are fey creatures with undersize torsos, sindly arms and legs, and oversize heads, ears, and nose. Green is the most common skin color but others exist—goblins of different skin color are likely to not get along.

Special Ability—Scent: Your sense of scent is sufficient to let you track like a dog and to identify your surrounding by scent alone, which allows rough navigation in dark earthen tunnels. You also find it easy to get along with animals with keen senses, wolves in particular.

Kobold

Small reptilian humanoids with a muzzle shape similar to dogs, kobolds make yipping sounds much like small dogs do. Kobolds consider themselves kin to dragons and speak draconic with a particular yipping accent. Kobolds are find of mining and mechanisms, especially traps.

Special Ability—Tremorsense: You are highly sensitive to vibrations in the ground, particularly through stone. This lets you predict earthquakes and rockfalls, get a sense for hollow rock spaces nearby, and the motions of creatures on rock. Not as good as sight, but better than nothing.