33.1. How many player character races will the game offer?
We revealed more about races at E3 2005. Currently, we have three starting continents planned—following is a list of continents and their associated races:
On the continent of Thestra:
Quote:
Dwarf
Half-Giant
Halfling
High Elf
Thestran Barbarian
Thestran Human
Vulmane (wolf people)
On the continent of Qalia:
Quote:
Ahgramun Human
Dark Elf
Gnome
Mordebi Human
Kurashasa (cat people)
Qalian Barbarian
On the continent of Kojan:
Quote:
Goblin
Half-Elf
Kojan Human
Orc
Raki (fox people)
Wood Elf
Source: Official FAQ
See also:
Video of Races from E3 2005 - Silky Venom
Guide to Races - Silky Venom
Wiki Section on Races - Silky Venom
33.2. Thestran human? Kojan human?
Does that mean there will be more than one type of human? Yes. As you would find different types of humans in different places of the world on Earth, you will see different humans in different locations on Telon.
Source: Official FAQ
33.3. Will your animal races look more like animals or humans?
I think we're very interested in non-humanoid playable races, but here's the problem: if you keep your playable races humanoid, you can share a lot between them: animations, clothing, weapons, etc. This turns out to be a huge memory savings. Once you go to something, say insectoid, you lose out on being able to share most data between them. So the Vanguard races will be humanoid for launch -- I'll neither announce nor rule out non-humanoid PCs for an expansion or some such -- just too early to say, other than to agree that it would be cool and that we'd love to see them in-game.
Source: Aradune Mithara
That is a downside, that the Vulmane, for example, won't have backwards knees, because it's built using morphing and bone scaling from the same humanoid as the other playable races (and some NPCs). Again, though, I feel it's worth trading that for what we gain.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Tails - NPCs that need tails will have tails.
Source: Talisker
33.4. Will there be innate racial abilities? If so, what kind?
There will be innate racial abilities, though it's too early to document them at this time. We are, however, dedicated to creating innate racial abilities that do not make one race the "end all, be all' selection for a particular class. Every class is going to require attention and proactive play in order to function well, and in some cases even survive.
Source: Official FAQ
33.5. Will different races start near or far from each other?
Different groups of races originating on the same continent will most likely start somewhat near each other, allowing friends to find each other fairly soon after they begin playing . We hope to avoid situations where two friends each create a character of their favorite race and then enter the game only to find out they are separated by vast distances, and are working on ways to solve this potential concern.
Source: Official FAQ
33.6. Will the races each have different starting stats?
Yes.
Source: Official FAQ
We have both racial attribute maximum bonuses and penalties.
Source: Tagad
33.7. Will every race be able to play every class?
No. We feel there are race/class combinations that simply are not traditional in a High Fantasy setting and should be avoided.
Source: Official FAQ
Vanguard features classes which are restricted based upon which race you are. There are no plans of this changing in the foreseeable (or even the super long distant) future.
Source: Tagad
Why not ARAC (All races, all classes)?
2 reasons off the top of my head:
1. RP and tradition.
2. Allows us to make races and racial modifications matter more. To do this we can't allow some race/class combos because that class would be unplayalbe because the racial attributes (both positive and negative) are incompatible with the attributes that class needs to be effective. - 10 November 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
33.8. Races located on the continent of Thestra:
See also:
Wiki Entry on Thestra
33.9. Dwarf
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.10. Half-Giant
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.11. Halfling
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.12. High Elf
Speaking of Elric, you should notice some similarity there with our high elves. For some reason when I think of high elves, I think Melnibonean.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Also see the Wiki
33.13. Thestran Barbarian
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.14. Thestran Human
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.15. Vulmane
That is a downside, that the Vulmane, for example, won't have backwards knees, because it's built using morphing and bone scaling from the same humanoid as the other playable races (and some NPCs). Again, though, I feel it's worth trading that for what we gain.
Source: Aradune Mithara
Also see the Wiki.
33.16. Races located on the continent of Qalia:
See also:
Wiki Entry on Qalia
33.17. Ahgramun Human
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.18.1. Who modeled the Dark Elves?
As for the Dark Elves, those were concepted by Keith and modeled by Den Beauvais.
Source: Glip the Gnome
33.19. Gnome
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.20. Kurashasa
A humanoid cat race. No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.21. Mordebi Human
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.22. Qalian Barbarian
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.23. Races located on the continent of Kojan:
See also:
Wiki Entry on Kojan
33.24. Goblin
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.25. Half-Elf
Half-elves are usually the children of humans and wood elves
Source: Silky Venom
Other Elven / Human unions are so rare that they do not represent a large subset of the population. As such, we can't have a ton of these "one off" combinations running around.
Source: Tagad
Also see the Wiki.
33.26. Kojanese Human
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.27. Orc
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.28. Raki
A race of humanoid foxes. No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.
33.29. Wood Elf
No developer quotes – try checking the Wiki.