Races

The twelve peoples you can start as, the two remort races, their stats, their abilities and what sets each apart.

You choose a race when you make your character. It sets your starting stats, how well you see in the dark, your height range, your racial abilities and the looks you can choose from. Twelve races can be chosen at creation. The shade and the dryad are remort races: a character becomes one only by remorting at level 100 (see Remorting).

The six stats other than luck add up to 80 for every race you can start as, spread differently. Luck sits outside that total. These are starting numbers, not instructions for how to play the character.

The peoples#

• Human: Widespread communities with varied trades and customs.
• Elf: Long-lived people with traditions of craft and woodland care.
• Dwarf: Stocky people known for stonework, metalwork and sworn obligations.
• Gnome: Small folk whose communities value study and invention.
• Halfling: Small, sturdy people with traditions of hospitality.
• Fey: Faerie-touched people with iridescent skin and luminous eyes.
• Pisca: Aquatic people with gills, scales and webbed limbs.
• Jackile: Jackal-folk with desert origins and traditions concerning justice.
• Scorpien: Chitin-armored desert people with venomous tails.
• Catfolk: Feline people with agile movement, claws and keen senses.
• Goblin: Small, long-armed people with resilient builds and mottled skin.
• Warrener: Rabbit-like farmers of hedged warrens, slight and quick, with tall ears and a talent for growing things.

Remort races:

• Shade: People whose existence crosses the boundary of life and death.
• Dryad: Forest-born women with bark-grained skin and branchlike hair. Every dryad is female.

Starting stats#

Every character of a race starts with the same stats. Nothing is rolled: pick an elf and you get the elf below. The background you choose adds one more point.

Dwarves start with the most constitution and warreners with the least. Scorpiens are the strongest, catfolk and goblins the most agile, gnomes the cleverest and jackiles the wisest. Warreners have the most charisma, and halflings the most luck. Humans are the most even.

A remort race is reborn with 84 points across the six core stats instead of 80; Remorting has their rows.

Goblin Dumb Luck lets luck stand in for intelligence in some checks, as long as the goblin's luck is the higher of the two.

Bodies#

Size affects what your character can wear and carry as well as how the world describes them. Age is where your character starts, not a limit.

Within your race's range you pick one of five heights when you make the character, so a short elf and a tall halfling are both possible.

Seeing in the dark#

Every room has a light level, and each race sees clearly down to a different floor. Below it you lose detail, and far enough below it you see nothing. The number is the floor, so lower is better.

Catfolk see in almost total darkness. Humans need the most light of anyone, which matters in caverns, sewers, catacombs and anywhere underground. A light source closes the gap for everybody.

Other differences#

Swimming. Elves, gnomes, goblins, halflings, humans, piscas, scorpiens and shades are natural swimmers. Dwarves, fey, jackiles, catfolk, warreners and dryads are not.

Natural weapons. Catfolk, goblins and jackiles have claws, scorpiens a stinger, dryads thorns, and warreners a powerful kick. Everyone else fights with fists when unarmed.

Injury. Most races bleed, and their condition is described that way when someone looks at them. Shades do not bleed; a wounded shade frays, fading at the edges, and its condition is worded that way throughout the game.

Gender. Dryads are always female. No other race has a gender rule.

Language. Every people has its own tongue. rsay <message> speaks yours: others of your race understand it, and everyone else hears only that you said something in a language they cannot follow. Every character also speaks Common, so nobody is shut out of talking to anyone.

Racial abilities#

Each race has a small set of abilities from level 1, whatever your class. They sit alongside class skills rather than replacing them.

race lists your own abilities. racialemotes lists the emotes your race has on top of these, which are for flavor only. skills shows everything you can use, racial and class abilities together.

Choosing#

Weigh looks and culture alongside the stat table. No race is barred from any class. Starting stats make some abilities stronger, but guild entry follows the rules on the Classes page.