CHAPTER 5

Ancestries

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Ancestry System Expanded Ancestry Traits
These are optional Ancestry Traits that you can choose
During character creation you must choose your character’s from to customize your Character’s Ancestry for either
Ancestry, which represents the physical form your mechanical or flavor reasons.
character takes in the world, such as Human, Elf, Dwarf,
Halfling and Gnome. Each Ancestry has a list of Ancestry DC Tip: Some groups or GMs might choose to ignore these
Traits, which you can gain by spending Ancestry Points. Expanded Ancestry Traits to speed up character creation (for
new groups or for one shots) or to give a consistent feel to
all Ancestries.

Ancestry Traits
Ancestry Origins
Ancestry Traits give your character physiological properties
or abilities based on your Ancestry. You can choose various
combinations of Ancestry Traits to customize your character
to express the type of fantasy race you want to play. Ancestry Flavor vs Mechanics

Ancestry Points Player Characters are unique in this aspect,

Ancestry Points can be spent to gain Ancestry Traits. and with so many options you’re able to
Most Traits cost between 1 and 3 Points, however, some create a wide variety of Ancestry Origins.
Traits have a Point value of 0 or lower: Minor Traits and You can customize them and make them
Negative Traits. your own, either for mechanical reasons or
flavor/lore reasons.

Gaining Ancestry Points

When first creating your character, you have 5 Ancestry Ancestry Flavor
Points. You gain 2 additional Ancestry Points when you This is where you can say what your Character looks like
reach Level 4, and again when you reach Level 7. based on their Ancestry. Maybe you choose Dwarf and
Elf for your 2 Ancestries. Now you get to decide how
they look, which has nothing to do with game mechanics.
Types of Ancestry Traits Maybe you’re a tall slender elf with a huge beard, maybe
Each Ancestry has 4 kinds of Ancestry Traits. you’re a thick stocky dwarf with smooth hairless skin and
pointy ears, or maybe you look completely like a Dwarf
and all of those “Elven Traits” are more recessive and aren’t
Minor Ancestry Traits represented visually. You might have the EYES of an elf,
These Traits cost 0 Ancestry Points and provide minor but everything else looks Dwarvish.
benefits that are respective of each Ancestry’s unique
abilities and origins. You can only choose 1 Minor Trait. DC Tip: Maybe you love the Mechanics of a Gnome, but you
really want to play a Halfling. Talk to your GM about if it’s ok
to completely separate the mechanics of your character from
Negative Ancestry Traits what you visually look like. Work together and brainstorm
These are Traits that have a negative Point value due to a how your Halfling Character gained the mechanics of a
penalty it gives your Character. These give you additional Gnome (through magic, through practice, or etc.).
Ancestry Points equal to the negative value of the Trait.
If you wanted to play a Dwarf that had a backstory of being
Example: If you choose the Negative Trait Reckless (-1), then from a long line of Dwarves, you totally can! Pick Dwarf
you would gain the Trait (which reduces your PD by 1) and and then ask yourself, “How else do I want to express my
also gain 1 Ancestry Point (since the value of the Trait is worth Character?” If you’re going to be a Cleric, then maybe
-1). After this, you would technically have 6 total Ancestry look into the Angelborn Traits. If you want to play a brave
Points to spend, but you would still end with a total of 5 (6 -1).
Dwarf, then maybe look into the Halfling (they have a
Halfling Bravery Trait). This doesn’t mean that you are
that Ancestry, or that one of your parents were, it’s just a
Default Ancestry Traits way to further express your character and let them have the
These are a set of pre-defined Ancestry Traits that are
Traits that best fit them.
worth a total 5 Ancestry Points. These include a Minor
Trait and may also include a Negative Trait. DC Tip: If your ideal Dwarf possess Traits only included in the
Giantborn Ancestry list, pick some of those Traits for your
DC Tip: This is perfect for new players! They can just say, “I “Dwarf” so you can create the character you have in mind.
want to be an Elf,” and get the pre-made list of the Elf Default You can describe your Mixed Ancestry character as being a
Traits and be done with this step of Character Creation. specific kind of Dwarf or a Dwarf/Giantborn hybrid. You can
express your Ancestry however you wish.

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 Ancestry Mechanics
This is where you choose your Ancestries based on the
Ancestry Creation
game mechanics of what Ancestry Traits they offer. Build Every character starts with the Base Ancestry Traits below,
out your character accordingly and then step back and see and their Ancestry gives them a list of additional Traits they
what your character would look like. I had a player make can spend their 5 Ancestry Points on.
a character that just wanted to make a BIG Barbarian, so
he chose Giantborn and Orc. I asked him what that looks Base Ancestry Traits
like, and we talked about it and decided that he was going • Size: Your Size is Medium.
to be an “Ogre-born” which ended up being a really cool • Speed: You have a Speed of 5 Spaces.
enhancement to his backstory... even though his choices • Creature Type: Your Creature Type is Humanoid.
were based on game mechanics.

Choose Your Ancestry

Ancestry Appearance Pick 1 or 2 Ancestries to show where your character
The appearance of this new Ancestry is for the PC and comes from, what they look like, or how they perform
GM to come up with together (also making sure it fits into mechanically. This usually represents what Ancestry your
the lore of the setting). The Ancestry could look similar character’s parents were. When you select an Ancestry,
to an already existing Ancestry but be magically different you gain access to its Ancestry Traits List (Default
for other reasons. The Ancestry could be an entirely new and Expanded).
species that you want to bring into the world, mixing
and matching Traits around to get the exact right feel
for your PC. Starting with 1 Ancestry
You gain access to its Ancestry List. You can choose a second
DC Tip: How I have always handled this is that the visual Ancestry any time you gain additional Ancestry Points.
aspect of a character is completely up to the player, then the
Ancestry Points take care of the “balance” and the mechanics DC Tip: This does give you less options during Character
of what that Ancestry can do. Creation, but gives you more flexibility to choose a second
Ancestry at a later time as the direction you take your
character evolves.
Ancestry Lore & Flavor
Starting with 2 Ancestries
Each Ancestry has unique biological and cultural pieces that You gain access to both Ancestry Lists of each
can combine with Backgrounds to create very unique PCs. chosen Ancestry.
• Unique Biology Facts
DC Tip: This gives you more options during character
• Ancestry Quirks Table
creation, but somewhat less flexibility at higher levels when
• Names List you gain additional Ancestry Points.
• Ancestries’ Cultures
This will be available at the release of the full game. The
Beta is focused on the mechanics of the game, so the flavor Spend Your Ancestry
and lore will be revealed in the future.
Points
You have 5 Ancestry Points to spend on any Ancestry Traits
from among your Ancestry Trait Lists. Your Ancestry
needs to have a total of 5 Ancestry Points worth of Traits
(including negative Traits). You can choose multiple
Negative Traits, but you can only choose 1 Minor Trait.
You must spend all your Ancestry points during character
creation (you can’t save them for later).

Gaining & Losing Negative

Traits
You can’t gain more than 2 Ancestry Points total from
your Negative Ancestry Traits. You can remove Negative
Ancestry Traits at higher Levels by spending 1 Ancestry
Point if their cost is (-1) or 2 Ancestry Points if their
cost is (-2).

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Duplicate Ancestry Traits
You can’t choose a Trait of the same name multiple times,
Variant Rules
unless it says otherwise.
Custom Ancestries
Example: A PC chooses Dwarf and Giantborn as their 2
Ancestries. The Tough Ancestry Trait is available to both If you want to give your PC a personalized Ancestry or you
Ancestries. The PC could only choose the Tough Ancestry want to combine 3 or more Ancestries together, you can
Trait once, even though it’s available to both Ancestries. create a Custom Ancestry. This gives Characters access to
ALL Ancestry Lists at once but only gets 4 points to spend
Ancestry Trait Requirements instead of 5. All other Ancestry Creation Rules still apply.
If an Ancestry Trait has a requirement, such as a Level When you gain Ancestry Points, you can spend them on
requirement, then you must meet that requirement to any Ancestry List of your choice.
choose that Ancestry Trait.
DC Tip: You could also choose to let PCs get the full 5
Ancestry Points for their Custom Ancestry, but keep in mind
Attribute & Mastery that this would be VERY strong and the default option for
most everyone at the table (for both min-maxing and roleplay
Increases reasons). If you’re ok with this, then let them have the full 5
Certain Ancestry Traits grant increases to Attributes, Points instead of 4.
Skills, and Trades. These Ancestry Traits can’t exceed the
Attribute Limit, Skill Mastery Limit, or Trade Mastery
Limit, unless they say otherwise. Variable Negativity
This Variant Rule allows you to gain Negative Ancestry
Refunding Ancestry Traits Traits when you gain Ancestry Points after Character
Creation. You still can’t gain more than 2 Ancestry Points
If you gain a Talent or Feature that grants you a benefit that’s
total from your Negative Ancestry Traits at a time.
identical to (or a better version of) an Ancestry Trait you
have, you can choose to immediately replace that Ancestry
Trait with 1 or more other Ancestry Traits available to you Stronger or Weaker
that are worth the same amount of Ancestry Points.
Ancestries
Example 1: A Dwarf with the Natural Combatant Ancestry
Trait (grants Mastery with Heavy Armor and all Shields) uses Game Masters can choose to start the game off with higher
their 2nd Level Talent to pick the Martial Expansion Talent or lower Ancestry Point totals (instead of 5).
(grants Mastery with all Weapons, Armors, and Shields), Lower Points: If you want less power to come from
then the Dwarf would be refunded the Ancestry Points Ancestries, and want it to be more of a subtle thing they
they spent to gain Natural Combatant and would need to
get, you can lower the Ancestry Point total down to 4, 3, or
immediately use those Points to gain a different Ancestry
Trait available to them. 2. The player would have to choose which Ancestry Traits
they get to use to equal that total for that character.
Example 2: If you have an Ancestry Trait that grants you Higher Points: If you want to give your players more
Water Breathing and Swim Speed, then later you gain a Class power and customization at the start of the game, you
Feature that ONLY grants a Swim Speed (but not Water can give them more Ancestry Points to build a stronger
Breathing), that would NOT count and you wouldn’t get any Ancestry with.
Ancestry Points refunded to you (you would keep both). If you
later get another feature that ONLY grants Water Breathing, DC Tip: I would be very careful with this. The game is
you could then get a refund for the Ancestry Trait since you balanced around PCs getting 5 points, so there could be some
would have other Features or Talents granting you the exact very powerful combinations players could take advantage of.
same (or better) abilities.

DC Tip: There might be a scenario where a Minor Trait is Ancestry Adoption

replaced by a Feature or Talent. In this case a GM could allow
a Player to pick another Minor Trait from another Ancestry (if This option allows you to select one Ancestry Trait from
it would make sense for that PC). any Ancestry available, then follow the rules as written for
spending the rest of your Ancestry Points.

DC Tip: You could be making this choice for tactical combat

reasons, roleplay reasons, or anything in between. Talk to
your GM (and even the rest of your party) to show what
unique twist you’ve added to your PC.

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 Ancestry “Magic Items”
This option allows you to “think outside the box” on why
your PC can do what they can do and where they got their
“powers” from. With this rule, you can choose from any of
the Ancestry Traits and give yourself a “magic item” that
represents that power. You can do this multiple times for
multiple points worth of traits. You can tie all these points
into a single item or into multiple items.

Example: You want to play a “normal” Human PC, but

you REALLY want to have a Breath Weapon (from the
Dragonborn Ancestry) and don’t want to say that you’re part
Dragonborn. You can create a Human with 3 points spent in
the Human Ancestry, then with the other 2 points you can get
the Dragonborn’s Breath Weapon but describe that it comes
from a “magic ring” on your finger. This allows you to play
the fantasy of a human while still having the magical abilities
that you want.

DC Tip: I’ve done this myself with Class Features before. I

had a PC who was a complete commoner, but he happened
to find a magic sword. As soon as he picked it up he was
granted the powers of a Spellblade. If I ever lost the sword,
then those powers were gone. It’s a very unique way to make
a unique PC.

GM and PC Notes
Keep in mind that this “feature” is now being represented
by an object that’s not part of the PC. This means that it
could be stolen or possibly work differently if the PCs go to
an area that nullifies the effects of magic items (making the
item stop working). So have an open dialogue with each
other about this and how it might look at your table.

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