Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 14:44:56 -0700 (PDT)
The usual disclaimer on "these are tendencies not absolute rules" is extraordinarily strong here. A Sea Person Hero can be anything at all he wants to be, although the extreme ends (Elves, Orcs and Half-orcs) are somewhat limited by racial class preferences.
Everything said here is a rough guideline, perhaps applying to half of the Sea People Heroes. The others will vary in lesser or greater degree, and really anything is possible. Unlike the other cultures, this culture allows anyone to be a Hero, the primary criteria being the freedom to do without prior obligation (as heroes, especially Sea People heroes vanish from the world quickly....either by getting killed or by ascending or, in the case of the shorter lived races, just dying of old age. If you have debts or family, you tend to take an expert/commoner/aristocrat/etc type class and settle down). Any race/class/alignment is pretty much allowed and can find a Sea Person society somewhere that will accept them. Local variations of course can have social consequences but the rule applies in reverse too... almost ANY Sea Person Hero type could find a Sea People society where they are not welcome or don't fit in.
The whole range of Sea-people are available as PC races. Orcs are the primary race, and the basic character of the race stems from them, valuing mobility, fertility, ferocity, courage and strength. However the wisest Orcs realized that alone was not enough to ensure the strength of their race and they wished for Memory. Elves were the result of that wish, and are in many ways the polar opposite to an Orc in attitude, behavior and experience...but not in core values. The longer lived races view the shorter as amiable children that need the guidance of their elders, and view their antics with amusement...as much as you can be amused by a 300 pound Orc with a stupid idea in his head that won't give it up. The shorter lived races view their tiny, frail elders as something to be physically protected and will sometimes exhibit this behavior even when it is patently absurd (such as a first level Orc barbarian shielding a 7th level elf ranger from danger)
The Sea peoples wash over the land but tend not to mark it. Elves may form an urban area similar to a Halfling town but it will likely be surrounded by howling wilderness, its food needs supplied by a mix of Magic and the hunting/gathering of the local Orc tribe. The middling races will form little frontier towns, farming areas, grazing areas and such of varying degrees of organization...but you won't see the Sea people turning a forest into endless acres of farmland, and while some might live in a natural cave they're unlikely candidates to carve vast underground dwelling places or to do extensive difficult mining. They are far more likely to trade for such things than to make it themselves.
One place the Sea People excel in is taking raw materials and turning them into small crafted goods. The Earth, Fire and Sky people all make powerful items and in the case of Earth and Fire also mark their environment as well. The Sea people make large numbers of relatively "easy" items....they'll make a wicker basket rather than a fancy glazed piece of pottery, they'd rather make 9 +1 swords than one +3 sword. Disposable magic is also a common trade item for them.
Alighnment wise, Traditionally Orcs are Chaotic, Elves are Lawful and the others fall inbetween, with the Orc or Elf tendencies dragging you one way or the other. Good vs Evil (altruism vs selfishness) is considered a personal choice and is not given the cosmological importance that your law vs chaos choice makes. Your choice in this range will determine whether in a broad way you identify more with Memory than with Emotion, and will tend to affect your social role in a group, regardless of your exact race.
Elves normally are abandoning an old career to become an adventurer. In order to "speed up" to the timescale of the young ones, they will immerse themselves in their new "Heroic" class and wall off or even forget their former lives. The transition from mortal to Hero is insanely fast on the scale of the Elfblood. It is possible a Hero who retires may eventually recover his old skills, but more likely the raw infusion of power that being a Hero entails will obliterate the old life, rendering it dreamlike or as if they just read a story of someone else's life. Halfelves usually just start out relatively young for their race, like most other heroes.
As the bulk of the population is Orc, there is a tendency to equate Heroing with the ability to Rage, and this is possibly why the culture is abandoned by the Hero at the outset of his career, rather than it being a kind of graduation or confirmation ceremony more typical of other races. A Sea Person Hero who retires rejoins society, but the Heroes on the Path operate on the more basic rules of oaths, hospitality, ransome and challenge, joining a community only by means of temporary oaths till they step off the Path.
Favored class of Orcs and Half-Orcs, all Sea People who work with the Younger races may take a level of Barbarian in order to both communicate better with them (and empathize with them) and also to keep up with them in combat situations. Half-orcs are more likely than Orcs to multiclass, the most common add-ons being cleric, fighter and rogue. When Orcs multiclass it is usually to get more Fighter abilities. Most high level Barbarians are from one of the two Orcish strains, the rest of the Sea people are usually content with one or two levels. Barbarian is often the primary class of any Sea Person Hero when starting out....being a Hero means having no ties and even an Elf may "clear" his past obligations by merging with the mentality of the younger races.
Popular with all 5 of the races, but mainly for the language skills and the initial Bardsong. This is most often added to another class as a level or two, a full-bore bard is a relative rarity, especially as many of the people with the talent end up with the flashier Sorcerer class. The Elvish oriented Bards tend to work on the knowledge aspects and in fact the Bardic Knowledge of an Elf or Half-Elf may in fact be them tapping their memories of their previous life. Orcish oriented Bards tend to the singing and spellcasting emphasis, leaving the knowledge aspects alone. Sea People Bards tend to have favored meeting places across the lands, more often a Tavern than a school, but a place where if you go at any time you might run into a few Bards...you can't say who you would run into, but someone will be there...at least a part-timer who can sing one bardsong a day. The True Bards tend to travel a lot, joining Hero Bands only for a single mission.
Most clerics worshop an aspect of water (Memory for Elves, Flux for Orcs, Ocean for the Middle Races) but if not, the usual tendency is Earth for Elves, Sun for Orcs and Sky for Humans is most common, but the other Fire, Earth and Sky gods have Sea followers.
In general the Sea People have a patron god for an individual but you pay respect to all of them, just in case. Orc clerics are relatively rare as a primary class, as they rarely have the wisdom to reach true power, however as a secondary class, any character, including Orcs, who feels close to his patron might take a level of cleric as an extra sign of devotion.
To the Sea People, druids are just another clerical choice with some odd restrictions. The Inbetween isn't the scary alien thing to the Sea folk as it is to most other races. Only the Goblins and Gnomes have similar amicable relations with Druids and even they put them apart as the Druids do not fit well into the Seelie and Unseelie court situations...they're treated more like hermit/holy men. Among the Sea People, Druids are seen as the Voice and Memory of the Wild, and thus Druids of any race get similar respect as an Elfblood race when matters concerning the Wild are concerned. The Sea People, even the Clerics do not see a conflict with Druidic ideas and their Religion, the feeling is that the world needs all kinds. Multiclassing druids is rare, due to their odd oaths, but some arcane casters or rogues might take a level of Druid for the nature lore and trackless step.
Humans are the most common fighters, but any race or class might mix some specialized fighter training in with their main approach to stiffen their direct combat skills. Orc Barbarian leaders often have a Human battle trainer to help organize their warbands and to add some extra combat skills to their warriors (teaching "Cleave" and weapon specialization are especially popular). Likewise Elf Wizards are sometimes found in the training hall learning to fire their bow faster and more precisely. Elf fighter types tend toward ranger in tendency, whereas Orcs tend to Barbarian. Only humans and their near kin (half-elf/half-orc) seem to find it easy to add the analytical balance of a ranger to the straight up joy of combat that a barbarian has to get a truly scientific fighter. Fighter trainers tend to specialize in certian feat paths and a True Fighter may have learned from many masters. Fighter classes are usualy taught, although the occasional "natural" will appear. If you wish to teach, buy Profession/Instructor as one of your skills.
Due to alignment choices, most Monks are Elves or humans/half-elves with lawful tendencies. Like Sorcerers, the path of the Monk is considered a personal mystic journey, a touch outside of normal society. True monks almost never multiclass, but the evasion and unarmed combat training of a Monk is a popular addition to many classes, as is the option to improve your alertness, stealth or diplomatic skills. However you must find a True Monk to train you properly, so many Heroes who wish these abilities must wait until they can find one..and convince her to teach an undisciplined adventurer the rudiments of the Path.
Sea People Paladins are rare, and tend to be most often Elves or Half-elves. The Sea People mostly see them as funny clerics, and Lawful Good Heroes of other persuasions may attempt to gain a level of Paladin much as they would instead choose a druid or cleric level to show a closer relationship with the god, while maintaining a different path to glory. Since this is a relationship with your God, there is no need to find a True Paladin to train you.
When an Elf decides to be a warrior, his natural caution and instinct to plan and think tend to push him in the direction of the Ranger. Elf natural abilities gained from centuries of practice mesh well with the Ranger stealth and alertness emphasis...not to mention favored enemy. As a multiclass, the Ranger adds naturally to Rogue or Barbarian, and of course a ranger may take fighter levels for additional specialized training. There is a Middle Race path that mixes relatively high levels of Barbarian and Ranger, eschewing fighting technique for a harmonious melding of the two styles of warrior. (both classes have decent wilderness skills, prefer light armor and you can use Barbarian levels to Listen and Ranger levels to Spot). A Sea Person Ranger may not take any of the 5 Sea Person races as a Favored Enemy unless she is evil.
A Rogue can be of any race but the emphasis varies depending on Race. Elves tend toward stealth, alertness, searching and disabling traps/locks. Elves are the least likely to mix any sort of fighter level in, as they have the sword and bow proficiencies already. They are the most likely, however, to add mage levels in, and use magic to make up for any deficiencies they might have. Orcish like to have Evasion and Tumble from a combat standpoint, and some use the social skills to overcome the low Orcish charisma when dealing with other races. The Middle Races run the gamut of what you might do with a Rogue class, and steal freely from how all the other races (including Earth, Sun, Seelie, Unseelie) approach the class. With the exception of the Elf Rogue/Mages, Rogue is not as popular a class to add "just a level in" as most of the others for Heroes.
In Sea People society, a Sorcerer is treated very much like a Monk and has a similar place in society. They almost never multiclass, can be from any of the 5 races and are highly sought-after to teach a single level of their discipline to give an Arcane dimension to a charismatic Hero's abilities. Sorcerers are more common than Monks, mainly because of the lack of alignment restrictions, but True Sorcerers are rarely Orc or Half-Orc. Shield and Trueshot are the most popular choices for other classes that wish a bit of Sorcerer, but Mage Armor and Endure Elements also have their place, as does Comprehend Languages and Expeditious Retreat.
There are more Elf wizards than any other kind of wizard, but intelligent Humans and Half-elves often find it difficult to resist adding some Arcane power to their other Heroic abilities. There are enough wizards around that it is easy to find a teacher and if you have enough cash, getting a decent spellbook is also fairly easy. Inventing a new spell will make you very very rich if you market it properly and it is widely useful. The Orcblood peoples tend to not have enough intelligence to become a True Wizard, but the unusually bright ones may find it easier to gain Arcane power this way than by going the Sorcerer route. Elf and Half-elf wizards quite often will have a "Knowledge, local area history" skill which reflects that they lived there a VERY long time and that their transition to wizard from their prior profession was not as traumatic as it is with other classes.
NPC classes are a bit different depending on the race, and like the Hero classes they really can run the gamut of what the other races do, especially if Sea People are exposed to other cultures. A Sea People community near Halflings will be have differently from one near Dwarves and both will be different than one isolated from the other major races.
The Sea People are the most like mainstream D&D NPC classes, so normal assumptions will work fairly well.
Elf commoners are very rare, as their racial purpose of being the Memory of the tribe generally presumes some Knowledge skill as a class skill. The other races have plenty though, with Half-Elf and Human commoners tending toward agriculture and craft type pursuits and Half-Orc and Orc commoners tending toward hunting, gathering, herding and making use of animal parts (leatherworking, butchery, etc).
A disproportionate number of experts are Elf, and most Elves are experts, with the emphasis on knowledge skills. It is a rare Elf indeed that lacks the "Knowledge local history" skill maxed, as it is an imperative for the culture. As with Dwarves, they tend to be the Knowledge keepers, but they likely LIVED through the period, they didn't learn it from a scroll. Remaining experts are scattered through the 4 other races, and like Commoners will have areas of interest aligned with the overall culture. Most non-Elf Experts are craft or profession oriented.
There are no DMG adepts, but there is the usual amount of lay "healer" priests who have a restricted spellset, only one domain access, no armor proficiencies and no ability to turn/rebuke undead. Of note in Sea People society is the unusually large number of spellcasters who retire from adventuring at relatively weak levels (level 3-9, usually level 3-5) to craft weak magic items, having decided that the Heroic life is a bit too much for the compared to the easy profits of such a life. Where the Dwarf Crafter Adepts will want to make Excalibur, the retired ex-hero will crank out +1 swords by the dozen, adventuring only enough to get the power to craft more....and usually only when the money runs out from his last binge. These spellcasters often serve as "backup adepts" if clerics, or as sources of cheap "cast on demand" low level spells of other types.
The most common race for this is Halfelf, as the Elves are tied up with being the Memory. Most Aristocrats have mostly Elf ancestors but lack the racial memory skills to do the job properly, so they instead focus on social organization. They get much the same respect as the Elf Experts but have a larger impact on society as they are the ones that turn the shared memory into action. Aristocrats especially focus on the relationship between the 5 Sea races. A town will have a Mayor and its Orcish tribe outside will have its leader, but somewhere in the two locations will be an Aristocrat or two helping keep the relationship between the two harmonious. In Sea People communities that is entirely Elvish, Orcish or "Middle Race" there will be fewer or possibly no Aristocrats. These communities are more likely to have followed strange or extreme paths.
These are competent physical fighters who have opted out of the Hero path. There are many reasons for this choice, ranging from a desire to be unnoticed by the Divine to simply too close family or business ties. To become a Sea Person Hero you have to renounce your current responsibilities....and most people just don't make that choice. The Younger races have a much larger proportion of warriors than usual, as the "commoner" task of food gathering is a hunting profession, and as such can be done as well by a warrior as by a commoner. Human and Half Elf warriors are mostly in a police/town guard type role, and Elf warriors are almost unknown and are universally stupid (they were Elves who didn't make the cut as the Memory of the tribe).