Real life got everything bogged down last week. So let’s get back on the horse and talk more about races in YARC. Like I mentioned when I posted about Clerics, races too should be tied to the setting. There’s no reason that the demi-humans should all be the same no matter what world they are on. And the same goes for humans. Speaking of humans. They’ve always been kind of boring. In old editions, they just didn’t have a level cap and they had some special classes they could take. Later on. Everybody could be any class. There weren’t any level caps and the human got extra “stuff”. Based on my own experiences, level caps just never quite worked. Either the campaign would end before it really became an issue. Or if it went on long enough. The extra survivability at lower levels doesn’t that much help at really high levels when those characters were behind the power curve.
So what’s my philosophy for YARC? Two things. First, options and aptitudes. Humans get more options. Demihumans have natural aptitudes in certain areas. Level caps are out. What race can be what class is decision that’s best made based on the setting rather than any core rule. Also, looking at the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules, IMHO, some the races Saving Throw bonuses are just too high. And with that. Let’s get to the crunchy bits. And for this to make sense, you may have to refer back to the YARC: Skills post.

Humans
+1 to any three skills of choice
+1 to Armor Class, Saving Throws, Damage, To-Hit, or Hit Points/level.

Dwarves
+1 Stonecraft (bonus to any skill related to stonework)
+2 Save Vs Poison
See in the dark: 60 Feet*

Elves
+2 to Instinct
Cannot be paralyzed by ghouls
See in the dark: 60 Feet*

Halflings
+1 to Stealth
+2 Save Vs Magic
+1 To-Hit with ranged attacks

Half-Elf
+1 to Instinct
+1 to Appeal, Banter, or Stealth
See in the dark: 60 Feet*

*I don’t care what you call it but our house rules were always, “OK, you can see in the dark.”

So that’s the basic races. Next there’s more to come.

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