The bonuses listed under each race are additions to your base skill caps. So if you are a Fighter with tactics as a specialized primary, you would normally have a tactics cap of 100. However if your Fighter was a Dwarf, who has a tactics bonus of 10, his cap would be 110.

Dwarf

The will of a dwarf is as hard to break as the iron that they love to shape. Dwarves tend to be short (under 5 feet tall) and extremely muscular. The males of this race are extremely proud of their beards and would sooner cut off their hand than shave it off. They are distrustful of and often very blunt with strangers but are the most loyal of companions once you have earned their respect and friendship.

Dwarves are ferocious fighters, capable of doing more damage with any given weapon than other races. They also tread very carefully around magic because, unlike stone and iron, magic can not be shaped and molded with their hands and tools. This caution gives them added defense against the effects of harmful spells but does not hinder their ability to use magic themselves.

• Shapechange: no
• Bonuses: +10 Blacksmithing, +10 Tactics, +5 Magic Resistance

Draconian

Draconians are a race of beings with both humans and dragons in their blood. While they look like humans most of the time, draconians have inherited an uncanny ability to master magic from their dragon ancestors. They have also retained the ability to change their shape into the form of a smaller dragon (either a red or grey drake).

Draconians also tend to feel inexplicably vulnerable without the thick protective scales of their ancestors. To compensate for this, they have become very proficient in the use of shields.

• Shapechange: yes [dragon]
• Bonuses: +10 Magery, +10 Parrying, +5 Veterinary

Drow

The dark-skinned drow loathe life just as much as their elven cousins regard it. There are few professions in the violent, matriarchal society of the drow that are as respected as the assassin. Healers have their work cut out for them after an attack by a group of raiding drow, as nearly all drow warriors use poisoned blades.

Drow mages have also come to be feared throughout the lands, as they have learned to channel their hatred into the spells that they cast. Drow mages have the potential to do more damage with offensive spells than any other race.

• Shapechange: no
• Extras: pure white hair [given at barber]
• Bonuses: +10 Invocation, +10 Poisoning, +5 Fencing

Duergar

The gaunt, emaciated duergar have always been insanely jealous of their dwarven cousins both for their strength and their skill with iron. Despite being expert miners that are always digging deeper and deeper into the earth, the cunning duergar have never been able to match the dwarves’ skill in shaping the metal that they find. They do however take a childlike pleasure in picking the steel locks of dwarven chests and stealing what is inside.

In combat, duergar thrive on causing their enemies pain. As a result, they have mastered the use of blunt weapons that shatter bones and cripple their opponents.

• Shapechange: no
• Bonuses: +10 Lockpicking, +10 Macefighting, +5 Mining

Elf

The slender, delicate-appearing elves of Valhalla are deceptively strong and extremely agile. Their keen eyesight gives them unmatched skill with the bow, which makes elves very good rangers. They love life, art, music and poetry, and with lives that span over centuries they have a great deal of time to spend mastering these things. It costs a great deal to hire an elven bard for a banquet, but most nobles find the experience more than worth it.

Elves revere life above all things, and will never take a life unless it is absolutely necessary. This deep respect for life has made elves proficient in the use of druidry, second only to the fey when dealing with this type of magic.

• Shapechange: no
• Bonuses: +10 Archery, +10 Musicianship, +5 Animal Lore

Fey

Most of the playful and often mischievous fey care little for the other humanoid races of Valhalla. The magical fey are extremely close to nature and the wild creatures that inhabit it. As a result, fey make both excellent tamers and druids. Each fey also tends to have a particular fondness for a specific type of animal, which the fey can actually alter its shape to look like. The known ‘shapechange’ options for fey are as follows:

 

alligator cat bullfrog deer dog drider [terathan] eagle giant rat giant scorpion giant serpent giant spider gorilla great hart horse	llama lizardman mongbat ogre ostard, desert ostard, forest ostard, frenzied panther rabbit ratman troll walrus wolf

Fey only have one shape that they can shift into which does not change throughout the life of that fey.

The fey are by no means strictly ‘kind’ people. As the animals that they are aligned have very different personalities, so do the fey. Some take a great deal of pleasure in causing havoc among the other races. If their troublemaking gets them into hot water, fey have mastered the art of hiding and can disappear in the blink of an eye.

• Shapechange: yes
• Bonuses: +10 Animal Lore, +10 Taming, +5 Hiding

Human

Humans are by far the most prolific race on Valhalla, with a large number of cities where they make up the majority of the population. Compared to most of the other races on Valhalla, a human’s life is short but full with ambition. Humans vary a great deal in their strengths and weaknesses as the humans of different regions have been forced to adapt to varying situations. The ease with which they adapt has remained constant however.

In an attempt to prolong their already short lives, human healers have become very skilled in the art. Their driving ambition and their ability to make quick decisions also make humans better than average leaders when compared to the other races.

• Shapechange: no
• Bonuses: +10 Leadership, +10 Healing, +5 Tracking

Orc

Orcs have been becoming more and more seen through-out the lands. This race has kept themselves hidden for many years in the darkness of the caverns. It seems they have chosen to roam the above ground now.

Their skill in Archery and Mace fighting is very well trained. Deadly to many who thought them weak. If you have not came across an Orc hunting party then you have not seen their tactics at work.

• Shapechange: yes [2 choices]
• Extras: orc mask available [page for details]
• Bonuses: +10 Archery, +10 Macefighting, +5 Healing

Vampire

Vampirism is a curse that the people of Valhalla have been aware of for centuries, although lately it seems to have been spreading at an alarming rate. Forced to avoid the sunlight and existing for an eternity with an insatiable thirst for the blood of mortals, most find the so-called life of a vampire to be both a curse and an abomination.

The vampires however see their affliction as a blessing. They have been given a gift of immortality and a great deal of both physical strength and strength in the dark arts of necromancy. The taste of mortal blood fills them with an ecstasy that can not be experienced by the other races, and they have the ability to change their shape into that of a vampire bat or a wolf.

• Shapechange: yes [wolf or bat]
• Bonuses: +10 Swordsmanship, +10 Necromancy, +5 Anatomy