Racial Division

Racial Divisions

Playing and building nonhuman races can be costly.

First off, all of their natural traits and abilities must be purchased in building them or it is considered that they didn’t develop in this individual. I might not let players simply buy them later but instead they may need to achieve them in the story before being available to spend Xp on them. They also have minimum and maximum ability score values that must be maintained and often require absolutely custom equipment, unable to borrow or share with others. Purchasing their ultra rare and specialized equipment in a human place may be harder than finding it in an ancient ruin.

Beyond the heartless nature of lizardfolk hindering a players role play options, they must purchase tail attack, claw or bite attack as melee weapons, swimming, climbing, overground travel variant for swamp, and unarmed martial deflection to match their thick scaly natural armor.

Elves, being a smaller people, have a maximum strength and stamina well below that of a strong human. They must be able to meditate instead of sleeping, see in the dark, hear on a beastly level, evade masterfully and know lost ancient lore and magic by heart.

All very expensive just for a beginner. Low point value games virtually exclude nonhuman player characters but at higher level play, they just kinda slide into their theme. Being an elf is hard enough. An elf warrior has a lot more to learn before he can reach epic status. I usually account for this with a human's innovative nature resulting in much faster adaptation to change and ability to absorb new learned things. Human kids just pick things up faster.

The lore and teachings of their native culture is a major part of any nonhuman character.

When a player decides to make a nonhuman, I expect most if not all of their choices and expenditures in character creation be made to fill out the thematic image of the character before filling out the mechanical advantages. instead, use adventuring to develop those much desired advanced combat skills.

It takes a lot to run a fantastic Aasimar, but simple Tabaxi and Goliath traits serve well in regular role play sessions, in problem solving and in combat. You just have to focus on your natural abilities for a while before getting new skills.

Great strength, leaping and climbing abilities are immediately useful and costly but not impossible to begin with. On the other hand, a fallen angel-by like creature could begin with damaged wings or no wings at all.

By earning points through play and spending them on magical leaping abilities, he could repair or regrow his wings thematically.

A character seeking to regrow their wings and return to their home or previous glory is a fantastic character arc that would be harder to role play out if he started the game as a fallen angel with the ability to fly like a dove already.

He could still have his weapon and combat skills, all the lore and religious history, even magical capabilities, but to fly again he must vanquish darkness down on the world below.

In a game where almost anything is achievable for players, maybe you don’t want to start out with everything every time.

DnD

race point values

Determined by DawnforgedCast

Players Hand Book

Dragonborn 50pt

Gnome stouthalfling halforc human tiefling 60pt

Hilldwarf lightfoothalfling halfelf 65pt

Mountaindwarf woodelf darkelf highelf 70pt

Volos Guide to Monsters

Firbolg Goliath kenku 60pt

Assimar tabaxi triton 70pt

Lizardfolk 85pt

Kobolds 30pt

Orcs 45pt

Goblin hobgoblin 60pt

Bugbear uanti 70pt

Tortle 65pt

Wayfinderd guide to Ebberon

Changeling 85pt

Kalishtar 70pt

Shifter 80-85pt

Warforged 90-100pt

Kenshi Nonhuman Humanoids

Race point values determined by Xp cost

Kenshi Humanoids

Base. Variant

Elf. Woodelf, halfelf, darkelf

Dwarf. Gnome, halfling, hobbit

Goliath. Halforc, orc, halfogre

Reptilian. Dragonborn, lizardfolk, kobold

Feline. Tabaxi, Leo, Catman

Goblinoid. Goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear

What are you expected to take?  That depends on your narrators allowances but here is a simple archetypical listing of prospective nonhuman races and their inherent abilities.

Goliath ancient lore, Goliath culture, field weaponry, local wildlife survival, local weather endurance, and a strength and stamina of eighteen, hp+10 @30Xp

Dwarf ancient history, dwarf culture, cultural weapons, item craft, weapon craft, hefty, bulky, endure, strength and stamina above fifteen, agility and speed under sixteen, Hp+10, @35Xp

Elf ancient history, elf culture, cultural weapons, dodge, magecraft, night vision magic, heightened senses magic, healing magic, strength and stamina below sixteen, agility beauty brain balance and speed above fifteen @50Xp

Feline cat culture, leap, dash attack, sprint, climb, stealth, concealment, claw attack, tracking, eavesdropping, intimidate, stall action -gaze, wilderness survival, agility and speed above sixteen @40Xp

Changeling ancient lore, monster lore, cultural lore, stealth, eavesdropping, voice impersonation, play acting, magecraft, disguise magic @60Xp

Reptilian. Nature Survival, weather endurance, enduring constitution, block, climb, swim, jump, armor, terrain marching, claws, dash, stealth, concealment, tracking, stall action gaze, magecraft, breath weapon  @60Xp

How does this Kenshi game compare to DnD anyway?

Simply put, double the hit points, triple the damage, and don’t forget negative hit points instead of death saves. Just hitting zero doesn’t take you to death's door. Xp are spent (typically between adventuring time) on advancing stats and skills rather than collecting enough to climb up to the next level.

Characters are created with building their skill sets in mind rather than choosing a pre written class with skills and talents tied to it already. It’s like stacking a bunch of lesser strength feats.

Spell casting tinkerers, sword wielding mages, scholarly acrobats, mediator barbarians, armor clad houndsmasters, papyrus armored martial arts librarians- they all fit right in.

You tend to start with the skills and abilities that you want instead of working toward being what you want to play as. The adventure doesn’t stop there, it just starts sooner.