True20 IV: Leshii

Leshii are a race of amoral, solitary fey that inhabit deep forests. They embody the harsh reality that is life in the wild.

Personality
Leshii are dispassionate, amoral, and cunning. They are not particularly deep thinkers, and waste little time on ephemeral concepts like good and evil. They attend to their own needs, and expect others to do the same for themselves. Leshii rarely get attached to material possessions, but have a strong sense of territory, and interlopers into a leshii's hunting ground invariably become prey.

Description
Leshii are humanoid, with some treelike features. Their skin resembles bark, and their hair has branchlike tendrils woven through it. Leshii can live upwards of three centuries, but rarely show signs of age.

Relations
Leshii are regarded with fear and suspicion by people living close to the deep woodlands, but regarded more as a curiosity than a threat by others. Warmer relations are hampered by the tendency of wild leshii to kill almost anyone straying into their territories. Leshii and elves avoid each other when possible, and gnomes occasionally strike alliances with them.

Society
Leshii society is something of an oxymoron, given their limited numbers and solitary nature. They live simple lives in the wilderness, hunting and gathering what they need to survive. Relations between the sexes are usually brief and aggressive, but occasionally two leshii will form a partnership, usually in an area of plentiful hunting. There are no recognized leshii kingdoms or realms, since leshii rarely do more than mark out an individual domain with the bones of slain trespassers.

Adventurers
Leshii occasionally become bored or curious, and leave their territories to become adventurers. Their hardy nature and woodland talents makes them much sought-after as guides and guards.

Background Traits
Ability Adjustments: +1 Con
Bonus Feats: Great Fortitude, Night Vision, Talented (Survival & Stealth)
Favored Feats: Fascinate, Sneak Attack
Natural Attacks: Leshii have natural slam attacks that inflict 1+ Str damage with a successful unarmed attack.

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Lineages
The differences between male and female leshii are greater than those between most humanoid races, and their numbers are far fewer. As a result, leshii have only two lineages - male and female.

Lineage - Male
Male leshii are slightly taller than humans, with rough skin like bark, thick hair interwoven with willowy branches, and a "crown" of branches and bone around their heads. They prefer a physical life with few attachments or possessions, and are often rangers or scouts.

Ability Adjustments: +1 Str
Bonus Feats: Endurance, Skill Focus (Survival)
Favored Power: Nature Reading
Natural Armor: Male leshii gain a +1 natural armor bonus to Toughness.

Lineage - Female
Female leshii are much more human in appearance, at least from a distance. Their skin is pale and smooth, reminiscent of birch bark, and their hair is invariably shimmering gold or darkest ebony. They often seduce solitary travellers, sometimes killing them afterwards, or taking them as a servant, but just as often abandoning them with the sunrise. They are as hardy as their men, but more covetious and can their affections or goodwill can sometimes be (briefly) won by gifts of jewelry or fine clothes. They often seek out supernatural sources of power, becoming druids or witches.

Ability Adjustments: +1 Chr
Bonus Feats: Attractive, Inspire (Awe), Skill Focus (Bluff)
Favored Power: Dominate

True20 III: Dwarven Lineages

One thing I'm not thrilled about in True20 are races. There's a distinct loss of fine detail when converting from a d20 standard. One option I'm playing with is giving most races a +1 level lag instead of +0 (if everyone has a +1, I can effectively ignore it). I'm not wild about it - it's alot of feats to absorb at first level - and I'm still looking for other solutions (straight up racial paths; some kind of truncated dedicated racial paths; bonus feats at X levels that go to racial feats; etc). I like the new Pathfinder skill system and intend to adopt that; it'll give me a few more points to tweak.

That said, here's my preliminary workup of dwarven lineages (and yes, I took out the ability penalties - humans get 7 ability points instead of 6, but with a +4 cap on any one. Demihumans with a boost get 6 points and a +5 cap). All dwarves get the dwarven background and a lineage.

DWARF BACKGROUND
Ability Adjustments: +1 Con
Bonus Feats: Great Fortitude, Night Vision, Second Chance (Poison)
Favored Feats: Diehard, Favored Opponent (goblin or giant)

DUERGAR
Duergar, also called grey or iron dwarves, are skilled but vice-ridden dwarves who seek to bring all of the dwarven realms under duergar rule. In exchange for their service, the Typhos have rewarded them with several innate supernatural abilities and resistances. Their innate ward power makes them much sought after as specialized “anti-magical” mercenaries and assassins. Exceptional duergar become assassins, cultists, or soldiers.
DUERGAR LINEAGE
Ability Adjustments: +1 Wis
Bonus Feats: Second Chance (Illusion), Skill Focus (Craft [chose one])
Bonus Power: Increase Size*, Ward (duergar treat their total level as their adept level for these powers).

HILL DWARF
Hill dwarves, or dwerg, live in small keeps and halls, often near humans or other races. They have an affinity for working with metal and stone, and ordinary hill dwarves make their living as craftsmen (armorers, blacksmiths, jewelers, potters, stonemasons, trapsmiths) or miners. Heroic hill dwarves usually become kerns, merchants, soldiers, or tinkers.
HILL DWARF LINEAGE
Ability Adjustments: +1 Dex
Bonus Feats: Endurance, Shield Training, Talented (Craft [chose one] & Search), Weapon Training

MORDWERG
Mordwerg are a rare, twisted race of dwarves. They have no halls or settlements of their own, instead living among other dwarves or by themselves. They are surly and self-centered, with a general contempt for anyone besides themselves. Their presence is much sought-after, however, as they are exceptional craftsmen and possess an innate supernatural bent that allows them to create magical artifacts. Most mordwerg are mages, wizards, or craftsmen.
MORDWERG LINEAGE
Bonus Feats: Artisan, Imbue Item, Skill Focus (Craft [chose one])
Bonus Powers: Combat Sense, Ghost Touch, Metal Shaping, Supernatural Weapon (mordwerg treat their total level as their adept level for these powers)

MOUNTAIN DWARF
Mountain dwarves, or dweorh, live in heart of the mountains, in vast greathalls that reach miles into the earth. They are law-abiding, resolute, and stoic, traits formed from millenia of battles against the abominations of the darkness and their corrupt kin, the duergar. Mountain dwarves are also the most avaricious of their kind, and dealings with other races are tempered by their suspicion of non-dwarves. Many mountain dwarves become clerics, soldiers, or templars; dweorh with an arcane bent often become seers or mages.
MOUNTAIN DWARF LINEAGE
Ability Adjustments: +1 Wis
Bonus Feats: Endurance, Favored Opponent (duergar), Tireless, Weapon Training

True20 II: Kern Heroic Path

KERN
Kerns are mercenary or itinerant fighters, typically from the lower classes and without a wealthy sponsor or employer, who make their way with a mixture of martial skill and cunning. Most kerns start their careers as conscripts, or part of a peasant levy. Unemployed kerns form irregular mercenary units, or become bandits. They are opportunistic fighters who seize any advantage in melee.
Constitution, Dexterity, and Wisdom are important abilities for a kern. A kern’s feat selection typically concentrates on seizing the advantage (Improved Initiative), improving his attacks (Attack Focus, Sneak Attack), and avoiding or withstanding damage (Evasion, Tough).

KERN HEROIC PATH
Roles: Warrior (primary), Expert
Key Ability: Dexterity
Core Ability – Determination: A kern can spend a point of Conviction to immediately erase all bruised and hurt damage conditions (and their associated penalties).
Starting Skills: Athletics (Str), Notice (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis)
Starting Feats: Armor Training (light), Defensive Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Weapon Training

Lvl......Role...Combat...Feats...
1...War1...+1...Starting Feats
2...War1-Exp1...+1...Sneak Attack (+2)
3...War2-Exp1...+2...Attack Focus (+1)
4...War3-Exp1...+3...Tough (+1)
5...War3-Exp2...+4...Evasion
6...War4-Exp2...+5...Seize Initiative
7...War4-Exp3...+6...Sneak Attack (+3)
8...War5-Exp3...+7...Attack Specialization (+1)
9...War5-Exp4...+8...Awareness
10...War6-Exp4...+9...Tough (+2)
11...War7-Exp4...+10...Diehard
12...War7-Exp5...+10...Sneak Attack (+4)
13...War8-Exp5...+11...Greater Attack Focus (+2)
14...War9-Exp5...+12...Tough (+3)
15...War9-Exp6...+13...Ambush Sense
16...War10-Exp6...+14...Endurance
17...War10-Exp7...+15...Sneak Attack (+5)
18...War11-Exp7...+16...Greater Attack Specialization (+2)
19...War12-Exp7...+17...Tough (+4)
20...War13-Exp7...+18...Tireless

True20 I: House Rules

I played around with the True20 ruleset for a little while. I really like it, but ultimately drifted away - it was really close to what I wanted, but not quite perfect (I wanted the simplicity of True20 and the mechanics of D&D...and here I am with S&W!) These posts are from a thread of mine on the True20 boards.

ABILITY SCORES
Characters begin with 6 points to distribute between their six ability scores. Each score starts at +0, and players cannot put more than 4 points, plus racial bonuses, into a one score at character creation.
Every character has a primary ability score. This ability score is added at first level to a character’s good save (Will for adepts, Fortitude for warriors, Reflex or player’s choice for Experts) and known skills. Primary ability scores do not need to be the same as a character’s key spellcasting ability, though they often are.
All progressions that advance by level (combat, saves, skill ranks, reputation) work off of the same basic scheme: fast (+1/level), medium (+¾/level), slow (+½/level), very slow (+¼/level). Combat advances as listed for the role. Known skills advance as fast. Saves advance at slow. Reputation advances as very slow.

PATHS
Paths are suggestions only.

MULTI-ROLE HEROS
There is no save penalty for multi-role heros. Heros gain one new skill the first time they take a new role. Characters gain one new skill each time they take an Expert level until they have 8+Intelligence skills (not counting any skills gained from backgrounds or the Skill Training feat). Multi-role characters cannot switch their primary ability score bonus from one save to another (though I might write a feat that lets them do so).

SKILLS
(updated 4/25) Skills as Pathfinder Alpha B: Characters select known skills, which have fast advancement. Class skills get a +3 bonus.
Climb and Jump are combined into Athletics. Diplomacy and Intimidate are combined into Persuasion. Escape Artist is folded into Acrobatics. Pilot is folded into Fly (flying conveyances), Ride (wagons, chariots), Swim (boats & ships). Fly is added as a new skill (cf. Pathfinder).

FEATS
Characters must take a supernatural source feat (Arcanist, Binder, Petitioner, Priest) to learn supernatural powers. Arcanist grants arcane powers; the default key spellcasting ability is Intelligence. Binder and Petitioner grant occult powers; the default key spellcasting ability is Charisma. Priest grants divine powers; the default key spellcasting ability is Wisdom.

RULES CHANGES
Poison (cf. MC’s BoXM); grappling (cf. Pathfinder)