Racial Fluff and Crunch Formatting Question

[Xeviat]

I have finally finished the stats for my setting's Common Races (up until now I've just used the standard D&D stats), but I have come up to a little road block; I'm unsure how to format them. The standard format given in the PHB is okay, but it has one problem: I use ethnicities in my setting, allowing a player to choose their character's race, and then the culture they grew up in. Most of the races have 3 different ethnicities, which come from different parts of the world; thus the society, personality, physical description, alignment, and many other entries for the race will be different for each ethnicity.

Thus, I'd like to know what everyone thinks is pertenant information to give about the race as a whole (before the racial stats are given), and what information should be elaborated on, or saved for, the cultural information (before the cultural stats are given). Worse still, any race can choose any culture (meaning your human could have grown up with dwarves, and thus have a dwarven culture), so I could possibly add a "considerations" section to each culture to note what other races might end up like if raised in a foriegn culture.

Sorry if this is confusing. Ask any questions you need to; I'll appreciate any help.

[Ra-Tiel]

Hmmmm interesting subject. How about you just give the general description of a given race (physiology, and so on), and put the details in subsections under each ethnicity?

Alternatively, you could expand the racial entries to beyond what they are in the PHb and already include information about the various ethnicities right there.

I tried a similar thing with my writeup in the WGCS

[Matt Larkin (author)]

I think it's okay to talk about a specific culture, say dwarven culture, without the need to go into specifics about how a human adapting to it would turn out.  Leave that to the imagination and perogative of the player.  What you do is spell out what is culture-based (either with the race, or perhaps in a different, "Cultures" section), and what is an actual racial trait (say Darkvision).  A human that lives with dwarves might share cultural traits (being good with stonework, a strong sense of honor, etc.), but will not share biological traits like Darkvision, or being 4' tall.

As to presenting information, figuring out how to present info is always one of the biggest challenges, I find.  I'd say present as much as you can which is common between all ethnicities, then have a subheading for details on the culture and traits of each ethnicity.

Edit: Personally, however, I tend to describe specific cultures within the description of a region, not a race.

[Xeviat]

The reason I need to describe the cultures along with the races is because "Culture" is a statistical choice just like "Race". Each culture grants some sort of skill bonuses, an ability that's as potent as a feat (and sometimes is a feat), and a favored class.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I do a similar thing in mine.  When a player picks a race, they choose "Race," "Background," and "Birthplace," each of which gives specific stats, optional feats and skills, bonuses, etc.

[Epic Meepo]

For the most part, I handle unusual character backgrounds on a case by case basis, letting players tweak their racial stats in unique ways to get the right fit. Of course, "nature vs. nurture" mixing and matching is still fun to design, even when my players are bypassing any formal mixing and matching system in the first place, so I've been known to do it from time to time.

When I do make racial traits that mix and match, I just seperate racial traits into "innate traits' and "aquired traits." Each character selects two sets of racial traits: one innate and one acquired racial traits.

The fluff for each race represents the default culture for that race, the one to which most members belong. But really, that fluff applies to anyone who takes the aquired traits listed for that race, whether they belong to that race or not. So a dwarf who is raised by elves ignores the dwarf fluff text and instead uses the elf personality, homeland, etc., because that's the fluff that matches his aquired traits.