SRD:Race Descriptions

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Race Descriptions

Character Size

Table: Creature Size and Scale

Size Category	Attack and AC Modifier	Special Attacks Modifier1	Hide Modifier	Height or Length2	Weight3	Space4	Natural Reach4		Carrying Capacity Mulitplier
							Tall	Long	Biped	Quadruped
Fine	+8	−16	+16	6 in. or less	1/8 lb. or less	1/2 ft.	0 ft.	0 ft.	×1/8	×1/4
Diminutive	+4	−12	+12	6 in.–1 ft.	1/8 lb.–1 lb.	1 ft.	0 ft.	0 ft.	×1/4	×1/2
Tiny	+2	−8	+8	1 ft.–2 ft.	1 lb.–8 lb.	2-1/2 ft.	0 ft.	0 ft.	×1/2	×3/4
Small	+1	−4	+4	2 ft.–4 ft.	8 lb.–60 lb.	5 ft.	5 ft.	5 ft.	×3/4	×1
Medium	+0	+0	+0	4 ft.–8 ft.	60 lb.–500 lb.	5 ft.	5 ft.	5 ft.	×1	×1-1/2
Large	−1	+4	−4	8 ft.–16 ft.	500 lb.–2 tons	10 ft.	10 ft.	5 ft.	×2	×3
Huge	−2	+8	−8	16 ft.–32 ft.	2 tons–16 tons	15 ft.	15 ft.	10 ft.	×4	×6
Gargantuan	−4	+12	−12	32 ft.–64 ft.	16 tons–125 tons	20 ft.	20 ft.	15 ft.	×8	×12
Colossal	−8	+16	−16	64 ft. or more	125 tons or more	30 ft.	30 ft.	20 ft.	×16	×24
This modifier applies to the bull rush, grapple, overrun, and trip special attacks. Biped's height, quadruped's body length (nose to base of tail) Assumes that the creature is roughly as dense as a regular animal. A creature made of stone will weigh considerably more. A gaseous creature will weigh much less. These values are typical for creatures of the indicated size. Some exceptions exist.

A Small character generally moves about two-thirds as fast as a Medium character.

A character must use weapons for creatures of his size.

Race and Languages

All characters know how to speak Common. A dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, or halfling also speaks a racial language, as appropriate. A character who has an Intelligence bonus at 1st level speaks other languages as well, one extra language per point of Intelligence bonus as a starting character.

Literacy

Any character except a barbarian can read and write all the languages he or she speaks.

Class-Related Languages

Clerics, druids, and wizards can choose certain languages as bonus languages even if they’re not on the lists found in the race descriptions. These class-related languages are as follows:

Cleric

Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal.

Druid

Sylvan.

Wizard

Draconic.

Favored Class

A character’s favored class doesn’t count against him or her when determining experience point penalties for multiclassing.

Level Adjustment

Add this number to the creature’s total Hit Dice, including class levels, to get the creature’s effective character level (ECL). A character’s ECL affects the experience the character earns, the amount of experience the character must have before gaining a new level, and the character’s starting equipment.

Vital Statistics

Age

Starting Age

You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class. Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the race's random starting ages table corresponding to the character’s class.

Alternatively, refer to the race's random starting ages table and roll dice to determine how old your character is.

Simple

Barbarian, rogue, sorcerer, soulknife, wilder.

Moderate

Bard, fighter, paladin, psychic warrior, ranger.

Complex

Cleric, druid, monk, psion, wizard.

Aging Effects

With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see each race's aging effects table). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.

When a character reaches venerable age, secretly roll his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on the race's aging effects table plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year.

The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections, or violence before getting to venerable age.

Height and Weight

The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.

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