Masters of metalworking and mining, the dwarves live underground in some of the mountains and hills of Arda. They are small compared to the other races, with an average height between 3 and 4 feet and typically a stocky and muscled build. Most dwarves resemble humans, with the exception of the dwarves of Louvo in Minj, who resemble the kattar. Dwarves live for two to three centuries, and can survive for long periods of time with no food or drink. They are proverbially wealthy and greedy, much like the land-dragons, who also live underground.
Unlike the other mortal races, dwarves are literally creatures of the earth: they are carved from rock by their most skilled sculptors and awakened to flesh and blood life by the quality of the work and the breath of their maker. As a result, dwarves made by the same scuptor are similar in appearance and call themselves brothers. While dwarves do not need to eat to live or to procreate to produce children, they enjoy these activities and will happily do both.
Some dwarves leave the safety of their mountain halls to live on the surface among the humans and other races, where their skills as smiths and masons are highly valued and good food and women are more readily available. Dwarves who live among other races tend to age and die younger, usually after only two centuries or so.
Type Mortal Humanoid.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score. Dwarves frequently have +2 to Constitution and +1 to Dexterity.
Size Small.
Speed 25 feet. Heavy armour does not reduce your speed.
Darkvision
Languages add Klav (the Dwarvish language).
Earthcunning whenever you make a skill check related to stonework or metalwork, you are considered proficient in the relevant skill. If you are already proficient in the relevant skill, you add double your proficiency bonus instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Brave you have advantage on saving throws against fear.
Poison Resilience you have advantage on savings throws against poison and resistance against poison damage.
Hardy you do not need to eat or drink.
Toughness your hit point maximum increases by 1, plus 1 additional point every time you gain a level.
Elves are arcane creatures of nature and the wilderness. There are numerous variations among the elves, from those of Glendal in the south-east to Bawa in the north-west, but they typically resemble beautiful and unearthly members of the predominant mortal race (human, kattar or davinan). For example, those of Glendal typically have pointed ears and cat-like eyes. In all places they live in greatest numbers in the untamed forests and jungles, away from the mortal races who clear the land and fetter it with farms and fields.
Elves are frequently ruled by their emotions, and can change from flighty and fickle to vengeful and murderous in a heartbeat. Like all arcane creatures, they do not die of natural diseases or old age: if killed, they are eventually reborn as another elf and slowly regain some memories of their past life or lives. Belief in the True Faith cannot free elves from the Cycle of Arda.
Elves can interbreed with humans, kattar and davinans, and the offspring of such unions are fertile.
Type Arcane Fey.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score. Elves frequently have +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Charisma.
Size Medium.
Speed 30 feet.
Darkvision
Skills add History proficiency and either Perception or Insight proficiency.
Languages add Cabbandari (the Elvish language).
Enchantment Resilience you have advantage on saving throws against charm and sleep effects.
Immortality you are immune to all aging effects and non-magical diseases.
Damage Reduction you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage caused by natural weapons and weapons that are not made of metal.
Cantrip You know one cantrip of your choice from the
wizard spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.
Goblins vary in appearance, but commonly resemble gray or pallid humans of between 4 and 5 feet in height. Some have the pointed ears and cat-like eyes of the elves, and taller goblins often have a pronounced stoop from living underground in the Drakken Peaks or the Nenian Mountains.
Goblins seem to hate dwarves, elves and humans (the most common of the other races), and are loathed in return. Most have brutal, violent and short lives, though goblins can live for up to two centuries if given the opportunity. While they dislike sunlight, and prefer to live underground or deep in forests, they are not adversely affected by the light of day.
Goblins can interbreed with humans and elves: the offspring of such unions are fertile, but resemble goblins in every way.
Type Part-Arcane Humanoid.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score. Goblins frequently have +2 to Strength and +1 to Charisma.
Size Medium.
Speed 25 feet. Heavy armour does not reduce your speed.
Darkvision
Skills add either Perception or Stealth proficiency.
Languages add Dakkandi (the Goblin language).
Feat add a bonus Goblin racial feat, such as Aggressive (as a bonus action, move up to your speed towards a hostile creature you can see) or Nimble Escape (as a bonus action, take the disengage or hide action).
Poison Resilience you have advantage on savings throws against poison and resistance against poison damage.
Toughness your hit point maximum increases by 1, plus 1 additional point every time you gain a level.
The mercanians are lesser giants, and resemble large humans of about 9 to 10 feet in height. They live in the far south where it is cold for almost all the year, and generally have fair skin and hair like the humans who live around the Mistral Sea. Mercanians tend in temperment towards the violent and excessive emotions and sense of honour associated with the giants.
Like all lesser giants, mercanians can breathe both air and ether freely, and live for one and a half to two centuries. They can interbreed with humans, and the offspring of such unions are fertile.
Type Part-Arcane Giant.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score. Mercanians frequently have +2 to Strength and +1 to Constitution.
Size Large.
Speed 40 feet.
Darkvision
Skills add either Athletics or Brawn proficiency.
Languages add Nikkar (the Mercanian language).
Natural Armour you have base AC 10 + proficiency bonus + Dexterity bonus.
Cold Resilience you have advantage on savings throws against cold and resistance against cold damage.
Mountain Born you are acclimated to high altitudes and can breathe both air and ether.
Half-human, half-horse, the origins of the centaurs are lost in the past. Most live out on the steppes and plains of central Arda, but centaurs are common enough throughout the settled temperate lands of Selentia and Khitai. They live short lives of around fifty years, and are proverbially tempestuous and hotheaded.
Centaurs tend to follow the dominant human religion in the kingdom where they live. They can breed with centaurs and horses, and the form of the female in the coupling determines the form of any offspring.
Type Mortal Humanoid Beast.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score. Centaurs frequently have +2 to Strength and +1 to Wisdom.
Size Large.
Speed 60 feet.
Darkvision
Horsecunning whenever you make a skill check related to horses, you are considered proficient in the relevant skill. If you are already proficient in the relevant skill, you add double your proficiency bonus instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages add your regional language (Angate, Bakkatun, Galdarve, or Nascerine) and the language of horses.
Natural Weapon your hooves are natural melee weapons with which you're proficient that do damage equal to 1d6 plus your Strength modifier.
Equine Build any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you, and each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet instead of the normal 1 extra foot. A creature of Medium or smaller size can ride on your equine back if you allow it, and in such a situation you continue to act independently, and not as a controlled mount.
Charge Once per short rest, if you move at least 20 feet straight towards your target and hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you roll the weapon damage dice twice and add them together.
The humans resemble the gods and the giants in appearance, but are much smaller (average height of 5 to 6 feet) with fair skin that has darkened in the hotter lands of the north, and they rarely live for more than a century. They have spread across the surface of Arda, though they rarely live underground like the dwarves and the land-dragons.
Humans are the dominant race in almost all kingdoms of Arda: they are merely uncommon in Malatra, Minj and the eastern half of Mungoda. Even Glendal, where the elves of the south-east fled to avoid humans, still has trading ports where humans are suffered to live. The great empires (Kaikuhuru, Selentium and Khitai) have all been human empires, and the True Faith was founded by humans.
Humans can interbreed with the elves and the lesser giants, and the offspring of such unions are fertile.
Type Mortal Humanoid.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score.
Size Medium.
Speed 30 feet.
Skills add one skill proficiency of your choice.
Languages add your regional language (Angate, Galdarve, or Nascerine).
Human Variants choose one of the following:
The kattar resemble feline humans, with short golden-brown fur over their bodies and the face and ears of a cat. They come from the tropical peninsula of Minj, where they are the dominant race, and from where they spread first to Batubatan and then to the coastal kingdoms of temperate Selentia. Like humans, kattar rarely live for more than a century, and are proverbially curious and prone to traveling.
The origins of the kattar are unclear: while the humans resemble the giants, the kattar have no obvious antecedents. It may be that the old legends about their journey south from lands far north and east of the island of Vien are true. In those legends, the kattar are the survivors of a once-great empire that sank into the Great Northern Ocean in a great cataclysm. Why this land is not known to the giants or the dragons has not been explained.
Although most kattar in Minj are pagan, they do not worship the gods of the humans. Instead, they worship the local fey. Kattar can interbreed with the elves, and the offspring of such unions are fertile.
Type Mortal Humanoid.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score.
Size Medium.
Speed 30 feet.
Skills add one skill proficiency of your choice.
Languages add your regional language (Angate, Galdarve, Jezant, or Nascerine).
Kattar Variants choose one of the following:
The davinans resemble reptilian humans, with dark-patterned scales over their bodies and the hairless head of a lizard. Like the dragons, davinans are warm-blooded: however, their scales and patterning resemble snakes far more than the dragons. They dominate the equatorial jungles of tropical Mungoda and Iloilo at the base of the peninsula of Minj, and are rarely found elsewhere: their reputation for treachery wins them few friends. Like humans, davinans rarely live for more than a century.
There are persistent rumours of davinans living in Upper and Lower Malatra, but there is little firm evidence to justify the wild claims of great davinan kingdoms in the interior of Malatra.
Little is known of davinan religion, which is certainly pagan. Davinans can interbreed with elves, and the offspring of such unions are fertile. If the fanciful claims of towering four-armed davinans in the mountains of Upper Malatra are true, they can also interbreed with the giants, and the offspring of such unions would presumably be fertile also.
Type Mortal Humanoid.
Ability Scores +2 to one ability score and +1 to another ability score.
Size Medium.
Speed 30 feet.
Skills add one skill proficiency of your choice.
Languages add your regional language (Mungodan).
Davinan Variants choose one of the following: