{Simplifying D&D} Races

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We can drop multiclassing & therefore favored classes.

We can probably drop racial weapons proficiencies as well, although it
adds a little flavor.

We can pare down the number of races. Eliminate Gnome, Half-Orc, &
Half-Elf. Half-Orc is the worst offender from a game balance
perspective, as it has a bonus to Str, and negatives to Int & Cha, This
specializes the race into a Fighter/Barbarian Type, and increases
it's offensive capability in this regard, no other core race gives a
bonus to a statistic that is a prime offensive ability. Half-Elf &
Gnome have no balance issues, just add unnecessary choices.

Humans: If we roll feats into the classes, humans are left with only
skill advantages compared to other races. Humans are supposed to be
adaptable, so we will give them Adaptability: Any time there is a
penalty to a roll; humans reduce the penalty by 1. Example: Attacking
with a light weapon in a grapple normally incurs a -4 penalty to the
attack roll, for a human this becomes -3. Humans get 1 extra skill.

[Taking it Further: Elves, Dwarves & Halflings have a lot of Bonuses,
which can at times be difficult to keep track of, Reduce Elves to just
+1 Dex and -1 Con, Lowlight vision, Immunity to Ghoul Paralyzis and
Sleep, and +2 on Searching. Dwarves get -1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 search on
stonework, +2 save vs magic. Halflings get -1 Str, +1 Dex, Small & +1
on all saves, and +1 to hit with missile weapons. Humans just get 1
extra skill. This will reduce the power level of the game, and looses
a lot of the distinctions of the races however]

[Takking it Further #2: Roll Races & Classes Together: Eliminate
another step in character creation. All Humans are Fighters, all
Dwarves are Clerics, (or vice versa) all Elves are Wizards, and all
Halflings are Rogues. You may want to bring back the other Races,
making all Half-Elves Rangers, all Gnomes Bards. You can assign other
non core races to the other classes such as Orcs are all Barbarians,
Lizardmen all Druids, Kobolds all Sorcerers, Saurials all Paladins. If
you want to go old school I'd suggest Dwarves as Fighters, Halfings
as Rogues, Elves as Wizards, and Humans be allowed everything else from
barbarians to sorcerers. This creates an issue when you want to have
another race be a particular class, as it seems inconsistent.]

[Taking it All the Way: No Demi's Allowed! Humans only for PC race.
The main problem with this is that it doesn't seem very fantasy
oriented]

- Justisaur

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

We can drop multiclassing & therefore favored classes.

We can probably drop racial weapons proficiencies as well, although it
adds a little flavor.

We can pare down the number of races. Eliminate Gnome, Half-Orc, &
Half-Elf. Half-Orc is the worst offender from a game balance
perspective, as it has a bonus to Str, and negatives to Int & Cha, This
specializes the race into a Fighter/Barbarian Type, and increases
it's offensive capability in this regard, no other core race gives a
bonus to a statistic that is a prime offensive ability. Half-Elf &
Gnome have no balance issues, just add unnecessary choices.

Humans: If we roll feats into the classes, humans are left with only
skill advantages compared to other races. Humans are supposed to be
adaptable, so we will give them Adaptability: Any time there is a
penalty to a roll; humans reduce the penalty by 1. Example: Attacking
with a light weapon in a grapple normally incurs a -4 penalty to the
attack roll, for a human this becomes -3. Humans get 1 extra skill.

[Taking it Further: Elves, Dwarves & Halflings have a lot of Bonuses,
which can at times be difficult to keep track of, Reduce Elves to just
+1 Dex and -1 Con, Lowlight vision, Immunity to Ghoul Paralyzis and
Sleep, and +2 on Searching. Dwarves get -1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 search on
stonework, +2 save vs magic. Halflings get -1 Str, +1 Dex, Small & +1
on all saves, and +1 to hit with missile weapons. Humans just get 1
extra skill. This will reduce the power level of the game, and looses
a lot of the distinctions of the races however]

[Takking it Further #2: Roll Races & Classes Together: Eliminate
another step in character creation. All Humans are Fighters, all
Dwarves are Clerics, (or vice versa) all Elves are Wizards, and all
Halflings are Rogues. You may want to bring back the other Races,
making all Half-Elves Rangers, all Gnomes Bards. You can assign other
non core races to the other classes such as Orcs are all Barbarians,
Lizardmen all Druids, Kobolds all Sorcerers, Saurials all Paladins. If
you want to go old school I'd suggest Dwarves as Fighters, Halfings
as Rogues, Elves as Wizards, and Humans be allowed everything else from
barbarians to sorcerers. This creates an issue when you want to have
another race be a particular class, as it seems inconsistent.]

[Taking it All the Way: No Demi's Allowed! Humans only for PC race.
The main problem with this is that it doesn't seem very fantasy
oriented]

- Justisaur

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

tussock wrote:
> Justisaur wrote:
> > We can drop multiclassing & therefore favored classes.
> >
> > We can probably drop racial weapons proficiencies as well, although it
> > adds a little flavor.
>
> Can mostly be replaced with giving dwarves +1 to damage with axes,
> elves +1 to hit with bows, and halflings +1 to hit with slings.
>
> > We can pare down the number of races. Eliminate Gnome, Half-Orc, &
> > Half-Elf.
> <cut 'n' paste>
> > Half-Elf & Gnome have no balance issues, just add unnecessary choices.
>
> I kinda like Half-Elves, they make good Bards, Clerics, and social
> Rogues, but I do change up Gnomes a bit.
>

I don't really care that much about Half-Elves, or Gnomes, could leave
them in as far as I'm concerned. I feel they are a little sub
standard, and both feel like they don't have any place in the world
(although this kinda works for Half-Elves is you want to play the
typical halfsie who doesn't really have a place in either human or
elven land). Gnomes also nudge into the traditional Dwarven niche of
underground miners & stoneworkers.

> > Half-Orc is the worst offender from a game balance perspective, as it
> > has a bonus to Str, and negatives to Int & Cha, This specializes the
> > race into a Fighter/Barbarian Type, and increases it's offensive
> > capability in this regard, no other core race gives a bonus to a
> > statistic that is a prime offensive ability.
>
> I disagree about Half-Orcs. They make good Barbarians and Clerics,
> but are poor warriors in general compared to both dwarf tanks and human
> feat/skill monkeys. 14 Str is enough for most builds, 18's the next
> logical breakpoint for a Half-Orc, but a Human can get +2 to Dex, Con,
> Int, and Cha for the same cost.
>

If you are using point buy you mean. Even the fact that humans get +2
to 3 stats vs the Half-Orc in a Point Buy makes Half-Orcs a problem
race. I don't feel they should be in a streamlined D&D game, they
should be allowed on a case by case basis like all the other races in
MM that make perfectly viable races for PCs, for people who really know
what they are doing, or at least have a warning or something.

> > Humans: If we roll feats into the classes, humans are left with only
> > skill advantages compared to other races.
>
> Give them a reasonably good all-round feat equivilent as a
> replacement, something like allowing them to pick two of their skills
> from outside class.
>

Didn't like the Adaptability idea? Might be a little difficult to keep
track of. Your idea might be better.

> Stat bonuses don't really need to be changed, you only look 'em up
> once, and they're mostly simple enough to memorise when creating NPCs.
> I'd tend to do away with the skill bonuses by just giving them those
> skills as a bonus pick, so all Elves know Spot and Listen, all Dwarves
> know Craft(Stonework) and Search.
> Stuff like the little magic resistance things could probably
> disappear altogether.
>

The halfing's luck bonus is easy enough, since you just add it in to
all saves once at character creation. I'm not to satisfied with the
dwarve's one though.

Could definately use more ideas here.

I'm probably going to switch it around so this is the default
streamlined D&D, and the reduced races are a "taking it further" option
after your and bradd's comments.

> > [Takking it Further #2: Roll Races & Classes Together:
>
> Not to my taste, but to do it properly you'd really want to make a
> new advancement for each race; dwarves as fighter/cleric/defenders,
> elves as mage/fighter/archers, humans as fighter/rogue/theurges....
>

Yeah, this is just an option for DMs to think about, I'm not going to
flesh it out (at least at this time...)

- Justisaur

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Rupert Boleyn wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:03:26 +1200, tussock <scrub@clear.net.nz>
> carved upon a tablet of ether:
>
> > > [Taking it Further: Elves, Dwarves & Halflings have a lot of Bonuses,
> > > which can at times be difficult to keep track of, Reduce Elves to just
> > > +1 Dex and -1 Con, Lowlight vision, Immunity to Ghoul Paralyzis and
> > > Sleep, and +2 on Searching. Dwarves get -1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 search on
> > > stonework, +2 save vs magic. Halflings get -1 Str, +1 Dex, Small & +1
> > > on all saves, and +1 to hit with missile weapons. Humans just get 1
> > > extra skill. This will reduce the power level of the game, and looses
> > > a lot of the distinctions of the races however]
> >
> > NB: Do not ever use odd bonuses and penalties to stats.
>
> I think he's talking about using only the modifiers.
>

Yep, sorry about that. It gets a bit confusing. I am torn between
making each section modual or intigrating it all. I'll probably change
to each section modual for these posts & design, then take the SRD and
streamline it into one big integrated system (If I keep up with it that
long).

- Justisaur

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

In the intersted of streamlining the races, here's the races, and
abilites from the SRD. I've devided each race up into 2 sections, the
parts that you can just add to an ability, save, whatnot once, and
never worry about again. This is the first part, the part I don't plan
on touching.

Then there's the 2nd part. The parts that are a little too
specialized, that might be forgotten, these are the parts I need help
chaning into a more straitforward bonus, that's not too overwhelming.

DWARVES
(Leave these alone, probably)
· +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma.
· Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
· Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision
is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and
dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant,
Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
· Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass dwarf 's fighter class does
not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty
for multiclassing

(Need to fix these
· Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this
speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium
or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such
situations).
· Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on
Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls,
stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old),
unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something
that isn't stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as
unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual
stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and
a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue
can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth
underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
· Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven
urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
· Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to
resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but
not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on
the ground).
· +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
· +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like
effects.
· +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
· +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type.
Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class,
such as when it's caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
· +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or
metal items.
· +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.
· Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven
urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.

ELVES
(Leave these along probably)
· +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
· Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
· Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
· Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in
starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor
illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail
under these conditions.
· +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic,
Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
· Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf 's wizard class does not
count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty
for multiclassing.

(Need help fixing these
· Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus
against enchantment spells or effects.
· Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency
feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow),
and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.
An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is
entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking
for it.


GNOMES
(Leave these along probably
· +2 Constitution, -2 Strength.
· Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor
Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide
checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting
and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
· Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
· Low-Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in
starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor
illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail
under these conditions.
· Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as
martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
· +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
· +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic,
Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. In addition, a gnome can speak
with a burrowing mammal (a badger, fox, rabbit, or the like, see
below). This ability is innate to gnomes. See the speak with animals
spell description.
· Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day-speak with animals (burrowing mammal
only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10
also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day-dancing lights,
ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnome's
Cha modifier + spell level.
· Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass gnome's bard class does not
count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.

(Need help fixing these
· +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
· Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against
illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from
similar effects.
· +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids.
· +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type.
Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class,
such as when it's caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.


HALF-ELVES
· Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
· Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
· Low-Light Vision: A half-elf can see twice as far as a human in
starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor
illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail
under these conditions.
· +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
· +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.
· Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is
considered an elf.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other
than secret languages, such as Druidic).
· Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf
takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not
count.

(Only one here, might just drop it, could just make it +1 will maybe?)
· Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2
racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects.


HALF-ORCS
(Nothing to fix here, just included for completeness)
· +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
A half-orc's starting Intelligence score is always at least 3. If
this adjustment would lower the character's score to 1 or 2, his
score is nevertheless 3.
· Medium: As Medium creatures, half-orcs have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
· Half-orc base land speed is 30 feet.
· Darkvision: Half-orcs (and orcs) can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal
sight, and half-orcs can function just fine with no light at all.
· Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-orc is
considered an orc.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Orc. Bonus Languages: Draconic,
Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal.
· Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass half-orc's barbarian class
does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point
penalty.

HALFLINGS
(Leave these alone probably)
· +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength.
· Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to
Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on
Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her
lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium
character.
· Halfling base land speed is 20 feet.
· +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks.
· +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
· +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
· Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven,
Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
· Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass halfling's rogue class does
not count when determining whether she takes an experience point
penalty for multiclassing.

(Need help fixing these)
· +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks
with the halfling's +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
· +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.

- Justisaur

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Justisaur - Are you compiling one continuous Word doc (or OpenOffice,
or whatever) of all of your changes thus far? I'd love to see it once
its further along if so. Could you email it or post it for download at
some point?

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

webhed wrote:
> Justisaur - Are you compiling one continuous Word doc (or OpenOffice,
> or whatever) of all of your changes thus far? I'd love to see it once
> its further along if so. Could you email it or post it for download at
> some point?

Yes I am, I'll put it up on my web site once it's nearing completion
(or if I get tired of it), and post here with a link.

It's at least an interesting thought expiriment even if I never
convince anyone to play with it

- Justisaur

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Well as I mentioned in another thread, I'd be interested in an even
more stripped down version for younger kids and your final product may
be the best place to start.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Justisaur wrote:
> We can drop multiclassing & therefore favored classes.
>
> We can probably drop racial weapons proficiencies as well, although it
> adds a little flavor.

Can mostly be replaced with giving dwarves +1 to damage with axes,
elves +1 to hit with bows, and halflings +1 to hit with slings.

> We can pare down the number of races. Eliminate Gnome, Half-Orc, &
> Half-Elf.
<cut 'n' paste>
> Half-Elf & Gnome have no balance issues, just add unnecessary choices.

I kinda like Half-Elves, they make good Bards, Clerics, and social
Rogues, but I do change up Gnomes a bit.

> Half-Orc is the worst offender from a game balance perspective, as it
> has a bonus to Str, and negatives to Int & Cha, This specializes the
> race into a Fighter/Barbarian Type, and increases it's offensive
> capability in this regard, no other core race gives a bonus to a
> statistic that is a prime offensive ability.

I disagree about Half-Orcs. They make good Barbarians and Clerics,
but are poor warriors in general compared to both dwarf tanks and human
feat/skill monkeys. 14 Str is enough for most builds, 18's the next
logical breakpoint for a Half-Orc, but a Human can get +2 to Dex, Con,
Int, and Cha for the same cost.

> Humans: If we roll feats into the classes, humans are left with only
> skill advantages compared to other races.

Give them a reasonably good all-round feat equivilent as a
replacement, something like allowing them to pick two of their skills
from outside class.

> [Taking it Further: Elves, Dwarves & Halflings have a lot of Bonuses,
> which can at times be difficult to keep track of, Reduce Elves to just
> +1 Dex and -1 Con, Lowlight vision, Immunity to Ghoul Paralyzis and
> Sleep, and +2 on Searching. Dwarves get -1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 search on
> stonework, +2 save vs magic. Halflings get -1 Str, +1 Dex, Small & +1
> on all saves, and +1 to hit with missile weapons. Humans just get 1
> extra skill. This will reduce the power level of the game, and looses
> a lot of the distinctions of the races however]

NB: Do not ever use odd bonuses and penalties to stats.

Stat bonuses don't really need to be changed, you only look 'em up
once, and they're mostly simple enough to memorise when creating NPCs.
I'd tend to do away with the skill bonuses by just giving them those
skills as a bonus pick, so all Elves know Spot and Listen, all Dwarves
know Craft(Stonework) and Search.
Stuff like the little magic resistance things could probably
disappear altogether.

> [Takking it Further #2: Roll Races & Classes Together:

Not to my taste, but to do it properly you'd really want to make a
new advancement for each race; dwarves as fighter/cleric/defenders,
elves as mage/fighter/archers, humans as fighter/rogue/theurges....

> [Taking it All the Way: No Demi's Allowed! Humans only for PC race.

Probably better to build a clean design with just humans, and add
in what races you feel are needed to give the game the preferred feel.
Don't be afraid to move away from the standard set, Goblinoids and Fey
have real potential.

--
tussock

Aspie at work, sorry in advance.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:03:26 +1200, tussock <scrub@clear.net.nz>
carved upon a tablet of ether:

> > [Taking it Further: Elves, Dwarves & Halflings have a lot of Bonuses,
> > which can at times be difficult to keep track of, Reduce Elves to just
> > +1 Dex and -1 Con, Lowlight vision, Immunity to Ghoul Paralyzis and
> > Sleep, and +2 on Searching. Dwarves get -1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 search on
> > stonework, +2 save vs magic. Halflings get -1 Str, +1 Dex, Small & +1
> > on all saves, and +1 to hit with missile weapons. Humans just get 1
> > extra skill. This will reduce the power level of the game, and looses
> > a lot of the distinctions of the races however]
>
> NB: Do not ever use odd bonuses and penalties to stats.

I think he's talking about using only the modifiers.

--
Rupert Boleyn <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
"Just because the truth will set you free doesn't mean the truth itself
should be free."

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Rupert Boleyn wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:03:26 +1200, tussock <scrub@clear.net.nz>
> carved upon a tablet of ether:
>
>> NB: Do not ever use odd bonuses and penalties to stats.
>
> I think he's talking about using only the modifiers.

Yea, that makes sense.

--
tussock

Aspie at work, sorry in advance.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Justisaur wrote:

<snip><snip>

New feat proposed to standardise some of the stuff below, I can't
remember seeing anything similar, but there probably is.

Resist Spell (by school): You gain +2 to saves vs any one school of
spells, spell-like abilities, and so on. Each time you take it it
applies to a new school of spells.

> DWARVES
> (Need to fix these
> · Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this
> speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium
> or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such
> situations).

Oddly enough I really like this. It needs to be used more for other
races and monsters, but I love that dwarves are mechanically better off
as a tank when it's such a high price for everyone else.

> · Stonecunning:

Yea, yuck. Give them max ranks in the craft(stonecraft) skill, and
let it give synergy bonuses to appraise, search, and so on in all
appropriate conditions.
Craft skills should all give synergy bonuses to that sort of thing
anyway, if you can build secret doors you'd know what to look for.

> · Stability:

It's really just the four-legged bonus in disguise, not that
four-legged creatures really need to be all that hard to trip. I'd leave
it alone if you're keeping the four-legged bonuses in general.

> · +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.

<sigh> Perhaps make it a standard feat, but there's really no need
for this sort of bonus.

> · +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like
> effects.

A little SR (4 + level or so, which is about 15%) would be better
than the general save vs spells bonus.

> · +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
> · +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type.
> Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class,
> such as when it's caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.

These should work like Favoured Enemy; just pick one type and get
that as a +2 FE bonus. Same for Gnomes.
Give the +4 Dodge bonus as an option within, or as a feat that adds
to Favoured Enemy if you want it.

> · Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven
> urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.

It's a nice enough game effect if those weapons exist, but probably
better to throw both out in a simple system. Let Dwarves pick weapon
focus in any one axe or hammer at creation.

> ELVES
> (Leave these along probably)
> · +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.

Let all elves know those skills.

> (Need help fixing these
> · Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus
> against enchantment spells or effects.

The no sleep thing isn't really needed, and the other should be
Resist Spell (Enchantment). Same for Half-Elves.

> · Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency
> feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow),
> and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.

Martial weapons should really be one feat; as swords and bows are
the best martial weapons anyway, they'll be what the elves use. I
wouldn't actually give Elves free proficiency with them, they're
supposed to be multiclass Fighter/Wizards.

> An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is
> entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking
> for it.

This sort of thing should be a part of having a certain number of
ranks in the Search skill, and should be checked at a penalty.

> GNOMES
> (Leave these along probably
> · +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
> · +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.

Give them all max ranks in Listen, and throw out the big-nose bonus
to alchemy.

> · Spell-Like Abilities:

I'd rather all those sort of things were replaced with levels in
appropriate classes, but that's a lot of work in the whole MM.

> (Need help fixing these
> · +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
> · Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against
> illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from
> similar effects.

Those should both be free feats, Spell Focus (Illusion) and Resist
Spell (Illusion). There's no reason to have them stack with the real feats.

> HALF-ELVES
> · +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
> · +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.

Ignore the first set (or pick any one), give the others as bonus
skills.

> HALF-ORCS
> (Nothing to fix here, just included for completeness)

I'd tend to give them Survival as a bonus skill, for flavour.

> HALFLINGS
> (Leave these alone probably)
> · +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks.

The need for bonuses to climb and jump are really a fault of the
Str skills, and are better fixed by giving _all_ creatures +4 to Str
skills per size under medium, and -4 per size over.
Move Silently as a bonus skill is OK.

> · +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.

I don't like weird bonsues like this, even if they are easy to use.
Giving them SR (level + 2), which is about 5%, might be better, same as
Dwarves.

> (Need help fixing these)
> · +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks
> with the halfling's +1 bonus on saving throws in general.

Morale's kinda weird in 3e, the whole system could do with being
cleaned up, with a common set of bonuses for good morale, which drops
into the standard fear effects as it gets reduced.
Could just make it Resist Spell (Necromancy).

> · +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.

It's probably worth considering giving them another +2 Dex in place
of this and a few other things, or just throw it out. Halflings should
naturally use crossbows, not thrown weapons.

--
tussock

Aspie at work, sorry in advance.