I’m spinning up a monthly TTRPG night at my day job. For several players, it’s going to be their first roleplaying experience, but most of them are coming into it with DnD pop culture familiarity and desires. I’m hoping to lean into some of those traditional fantasy aspects while playing an easier game for them to learn and a much more fun game for me to run: Cairn 2e.

Here are some classic fantasy ancestry bonuses I’ve cooked up for Cairn that are taken at character creation, each granting a stat/HP bonus and a unique ability. The HP/Stat increases are intended to be applied once, at character creation, and do not carry forward after future advancement or stat changes are made. The ability, though, is a permanent addition to the character.

HUMAN

+2 Hit Protection
Tenacious: If you would suffer Critical Damage, you may add Fatigue instead.

ELF

+2 Dexterity
Sharp Senses: You cannot be surprised.

DWARF

+2 Strength
Immutable Gut: You cannot be poisoned.

HALFLING

+2 Willpower
Lucky: When you roll a 20, you may roll again and use the new result.

I landed on this structure for the bonuses because each option feels, for new characters, notable and unique while also being simple to implement. The lack of more power-creepy elements from newer DnD editions like widespread darkvision ensure the dungeoncrawling aspects of Cairn remain relevant and other relics, spells, etc. remain as useful as originally intended. Lastly, the Stat/HP bonuses will become less relevant and impactful as PCs gain scars (potentially advancing their Stats/HP beyond these initial bonsues) and further advance themselves through relics, training, etc.

I didn’t want to create anything that makes a character feel stuck or pigeonholed into this early choice in the long term, while also making it interesting and fun for the opening sessions of play.

I’ll try to report back with how this goes at the table (or if I add more for any other options like lizardfolk or catman or whatnot).