FANGS: Appendix B - Non-Human Races

File:FANGS-Basic Fangs Logo (small original).gifWelcome to FANGS, the Fantasy Adventure Networked Gaming System. The goal of this roleplaying system is to offer rules that allow for fun, dramatic play without losing too much realism, simple and yet elegant rules, and balanced for different styles of players who wish to game together.

Non-Human Races

A fantasy or space based RPG is likely to have non-human characters involved in the game.

This appendix covers creatures from the fantasy world of "Alvatia."

Choosing a Race

At the GM's discretion, a player can have a non-human character such as an Elf, Dwarf, or other mythical creature, or a creature from another world, place, or time.

Each non-human race is considered an Advantage (or in some cases a Disadvantage.) A race consists of a bundle of changes to Characteristics, and possibly some Advantages, Disadvantages, or Skills. Each race also gains the Advantage "Patron" from others members of the same race (after all, minorities should stick together!) The total base cost for playing a non-human is 5 for the Patron Advantage and 5 just for choosing a non-human, for a total of 10.

To create a non-human character first create a normal human character using the standard rules. Then choose a race and pay for the Advantage with character points as you would any other character.

Only after all your Character Points have been expended do you modify your character's Characteristics for any racial changes.

Even though a non-human race may consist of a number of different Advantages or Disadvantages, it only counts as 1 Advantage against the maximum of 4 you can have.

Typical Fantasy Races

Race	ST	AG	CO	IN	PW	SZ	AP	Ads/Disads	Cost
Dwarf:	+2	.	+2	.	.	-3	-2	Night Vision	+15
								Magic Resistance
								Reduced MV –4
Elf:	-1	+1	-1	.	+1	-1	+1	Latent Magic Talent	+30
								Night Vision
Gnome:	+1	.	+1	+1	.	-3	.	Night Vision	+20
Halfling:	.	+2	+1	.	.	-3	.	none	+10
Half-Orc:	+1	.	.	-1	.	.	-2	none	+ 0
Orc:	+1	.	.	-2	.	+1	-3	Night Vision	-10
								Hunted
Troll:	+3	.	+2	-3	.	+3	-3	Night Vision	+10
								Rapid Healing
								Hunted
								Berserk

Other Races

The GM can modify these races, or create his own. It is very easy to abuse these rules, so the GM should consider these non-human racial rules optional, or restrict players to a limited number of races, or only allow better players to role-play non-humans.

The technique used to figure out the Character Point cost of a non-human race is to add up all the Characteristic costs, the costs of the Advantages and Disadvantages, and add 10. This base cost is a 5 point "Patron" Advantage with other members of the same race, plus 5 points as the price for being different.

For instance, Elves have net 0 Characteristic cost because the + and - even out. The cost of Latent Magic Talent & Night Vision Advantages are 20 Character Points, plus the base race cost of 10 totals +30 Character Point cost for a character to be Elven.

In the case of the Orc, it has a net -3 in Characteristics, which gives a credit of -20 Character Points. The Advantage of Night Vision and Disadvantage of Hunted have a net 0 Character Point cost. With the base racial cost of 10, this makes the cost for a character to be an Orc a Disadvantage of -10 points.