Thursday, May 19, 2016

Looking at OGL Playable Species, aka Races

This is part of somewhat a informal series comparing Open Gaming License (OGL) data from various gaming systems. The prior posts in this comparison were looking at the Abilities & Skills and basic stat blocks from the OGL games.

1) Attributes, skills, and special gifts
2) Looking at OGL stat data: Black Bear

In this post, I wanted to compare the stat bonuses of common, and lesser common but popular, gaming playable species normally called races. I normally like to call them species because it gets weird for me when referring to less-than-human-like species. Species where hybrids are more difficult for me to imagine.





Stable Between Games

Humans - In all of the systems, a humans is the most flexible of the races.
Dwarf - In all of the games, a dwarf is sturdy and resilient.
Elf - In all of the games, an elf is quick.
Halfling - In all of the games, a halfling is quick.
Orc - In all of the games, an orc is strong.
Goblin - In all of the games, a goblin is quick.
Angel - These are normally wise and charismatic.
Demon - These are normally intelligent and hideous.

Differ Between Games

Gnome - Really vary between games.
Vampire/Dhampir - Somewhat vary between games.

My Evaluation of the Playable Species

Although there is a core trait-consistent group of playable fantasy species, a few of them aren't as standardized. Quick trait seems to be the most common type of non-human species. Quickness is normally important in games for initiative and long range attacks.

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