Doll Race

[LoA]

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"Nothing scares me more than people with some doll collection."

Karl Lagerfeld

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So I'm making this thread because the tavern conversation is getting kind of long, and it's just the polite thing to do.

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LoA
I wish I could make the China people of Oz work as a race. I so want little dolls to be a part of one of my settings.

Weave
Out of curiosity, why can't they work as a race?

LoA
Mainly, that I can't think of a logical way they would work in combat situations.

Hoers
Step 1: Give them a weapon
Step 2: Hope they hit first

LoA
Yeah, they're basically broken either way  :D

Steerpike
Maybe they have super-strong lacquer. Anyone, who cares if you're broken if you can just glue yourself back together?

LoA
Tell that to the China people in Oz the Great and Powerful...

Weave
Depending on the system, you could always just extrapolate HP until it "works."  :P [/box_green]

Allow me to explain myself. I love the idea of a race of small sentient toys. Ever since I was a kid I loved the "You Are Special" book by Max Lucado which is a Christian children's tale about a race of small wooden dolls called Wemmicks brought to life by a toymaker who lives up on a hill.

I've been brewing over this for a while now, and I was thinking about taking the Warforged Scout from Eberron, and modifying it to be more toy like. I had the idea of body feats similar to the ones in Eberron too. Wooden Body would give you low durability, and high vulnerability to fire, but you could take falling damage. Porcelian (China) body could withstand the elements more, but fall more than three feet, and you have a problem. Clothe" body would be the weakest in terms of strength, but the highest in terms of taking a beating.

I think this would only work in Whimsical settings where there's absolutely no bearing on logical thought. Either that, or these would be a very unusual race.

Sorry for not posting anything more of substance, I never organized my thoughts about this before. I'll be back for more later.

[Steerpike]

What system are you thinking?

[LoA]

What system are you thinking?

Probably Pathfinder. Thing is I don't know how to use this idea. Once upon a time I thought about running an Eberron game in the Mournland. It would be sort of like 9 (if anyone remembers that movie) where we would all be toys that formed a society in a ruined city after the Day of Mourning. It would be an exploration/survival horror game.

Another idea I had was to incorporate them into my "American City in a fantasy world" setting, where they are sort of the morality pet of the American people after they helped the toy people escape religious persecution.

Then I thought recently "I would love to see a sincere adaptation of the Oz books." Not a grim and gritty realistic reboot, a la Tin Man, or Return to Oz, nor a rehash of the movie stuff, but a genuine series and/or movie that capitalizes on all of the weird stuff in the books. I mean, the books are basically Steampunk Narnia.

That's where I think Oz the Great and Powerful went wrong. Disney was trying to hard to play off the original movie, and it felt like it was in a bubble. If they would have went to the books, they would have found all sorts of untapped potential. Plus they would have had a really good excuse to rehash Beauty and the Beast assets.

...I'm whining about  improper use of Oz lore on an obscure RPG community site. What am I doing with my life?