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Thieves' World - Cultures

Edited by Nicholas HM Caldwell for The Guild Companion

Welcome to the second article in the series. While last month we covered converting Thieves' World backgrounds into HARP cultures, this month we'll be looking to take the Thieves World cultures and generate HARP "races". You will need the Thieves World Player's Manual in order to use this article.

In the Thieves' World setting there are effectively 2 races -- Humans and Beysib (or Half-Beysib), but that is not to say that the setting lacks diversity in characters. There are 14 different ethnic cultures described for the Thieves' World setting, and based upon these the HARP races are created.

Components

Each Culture in Green Ronin's Thieves' World Players Manual includes the culture's Name, Description of Culture, Physical Description, Ethnic Traits, Languages, and Common Classes. These should be used as is with the following exceptions.

Ethnic Traits - Ignore this section and replace with racial abilities listed in the table below.

Languages - This section lists standard languages known and Bonus languages. The initial languages listed are standard languages known. The standard languages are known at the level listed for Racial Tongues according to their backgrounds as described in last month's article. There may be more than one initial Racial Tongue (Initial Language).

Note: Some languages have no written component -- Irrune, Raggah, Raggah Signing, Sanctan (Wrigglie), S'danzo, and Trade Tongue. It is impossible to add W(ritten) ranks in these languages.

Ex: A Caronnese Bureaucrat would have Caronnese and Trade Tongues as their Standard Languages. The Bureaucrat grants them S6 and W5 in Caronnese and S6 in Trade Tongue. Like every other character in Thieves World, they understand some degree of Sanctan and that is listed in table 2 below based upon their Thieves World Culture.

Common Classes -

These can be used as is with the understanding that the connection is simply a generalization towards the types of characters found in these cultures. Many of the references are to either new d20 classes or d20 prestige classes. These will be covered in future articles.

The following table shows the cultures presented in the GR text. Efforts were made to use pre-existing racial abilities and talents for the special abilities. However, in some cases it was decided that to better address the culture a new talent would be required. These are marked with * and are detailed below.

Table 1: Racial Characteristics

Racial Stat Modifiers Resistance
Race St Co Ag Qu SD Re In Pr End PP Stam Will Magic
Aurveshan 0 0 +2 0 +3 +2 +1 0 40 20 +10 +20 0
Lesser Resist (Will) Subtle Mental Resolve
Caronnese 0 0 0 0 +2 +1 +2 +3 45 15 +5 +20 +5
Diligent * Negotiator * Persuasive
Cirdonian +2 +3 0 0 +2 0 +1 0 50 10 +15 +10 +5
Lesser Resist (Stam) Self-Sufficient * Toughness
Half-Beysib +1 0 +4 +3 0 0 0 0 40 20 +10 +10 +10
Nictitating Membrane * Athletic Lightning Reflexes
Ilsigi 0 0 0 0 0 +3 +3 +2 30 30 +5 +15 +10
Enhanced Senses Lesser Resist (Will) Skill Specialization
Irrune +3 +3 +1 +1 0 0 0 0 50 10 +20 +5 +5
Animal Affinity * Skill Specialization: CS&M: Mounted Combat Toughness
Mrsevadan +1 +2 +1 +2 +1 0 0 +1 45 15 +15 +10 +5
Athletic Combat Awareness Persuasive *
'Nighter 0 +4 +2 +2 0 0 0 0 45 15 +20 +5 +5
Athletic Self-Sufficient * Subtle
Nisibisi 0 0 +2 +3 0 0 +1 +2 5 55 +5 +5 +20
Lightning Reflexes Sense Magic Blood Magic _____
Raggah 0 +2 0 +2 0 +2 +2 0 30 30 +10 +10 +10
Lesser Resistance (Stamina) Skill Special: CS&M: Mounted Combat Self-Sufficient
Rankan +1 0 0 0 +2 +3 +2 0 20 40 +10 +5 +15
Sense Magic Negotiator * Skill Specialization
S'danzo 0 0 +1 0 +1 0 +2 +4 15 45 +10 +5 +15
Subtle Master Craftsman Skill Specialization: Divinations
Twandan 0 +2 +1 0 0 +2 +3 0 45 15 +15 +10 +5
Lesser Resistance (Stamina) Blazing Speed Skill Specialization
Wrigglie 0 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 0 0 45 15 +10 +15 +5
Enhanced Senses Skill Specialization: Maze Region Lore Skill Specialization

Table 2: Racial Starting Knowledge of Sanctan
Culture (Race) Sanctan Language Ranks
Aurveshan 4
Caronnese 7
Cirdonian 4
Half-Beysib 5
Ilsigi 6
Irrune 5
Mrsevadan 6
'Nighter 7
Nisibisi 5
Raggah 4
Rankan 6
S'danzo 6
Twandan 5
Wrigglie 8

New Talents

Diligent

+10 to Appraisal skill and -10 on all attempts using Trickery skill against them.

Cost: 15

Negotiator

+25 to Trading skill

Cost: 20

Self-Sufficient

+15 to all Healing and Survival skills.

Cost: 15

Animal Affinity

+15 on all Animal Handling, Beastmastery and Riding skills.

Cost: 15

Persuasive

+15 to all Influence skills.

Cost: 20