New PC Race: Aretai (Halflings)

Since no one liked the Greek version of Omospondia very much, I thought I'd share this.

Aretai (Halflings)

The Aretai of the land of Omospondia reject rather violently the racial slur of "Halfling" and often have the physical strength to back it up. The small race of hero-worshiping champions has never been as influential in the Harmonium as some of their larger cousins but one would never know it by the many great legends that are immortalized in their oral verse.

The Aretai are, peculiarly, one of the least enthusiastic members of the Harmonium's 'Ruling Races' with their disaffection for tyranny and love of good often contrasting sharply with the more immoral practices of their fellows. The Aretai are known, justly, as the 'conscience' of the Harmonium and see it as their purpose to guide the OCA on the path of righteousness.

Personality: Aretai are a compassionate, idealistic, and friendly people that have an almost universal reputation for good will. Likewise, they have an equally strong reputation for swift retribution to anyone that attempts to take advantage of perceived naivety.

Aretai have an exaggerated (but partially true) reputation for loathing bureaucracy. Aretai appreciate simplicity in one's dealings and hold extremely tightly to their own personal codes of honor. This has lead to rather maddening frustration for many Aretai that choose to travel outside of their homeland with the endless fixation that they believe humans have on minutia.

Most Aretai have a passionate devotion to heroic stories and can often cite half-a-dozen or more quotes from famous Aretai of the past for nearly any given situation. The majority of Aretai are humble and accept their meager station in life but encourage any who wish to create a better world. A Aretai who meets a genuine hero will often be fawning. Those Aretai who achieve great deeds often allow themselves to bask in the adoration that they feel is their due.

The Aretai tend to be a passionate people that are frequently prone to falling in love at the drop of the hat, getting into fights, joining into the service of lost but just causes, and letting their emotions rule their deeds. Most Aretai recognize this quality and take a perverse form of pride in it.

Physical Description: Despite their reputation as 'Half-Men', Aretai tend to be about the same physical size as Dwarves with a few inches shorter on average. They vary tremendously on physical shape and condition with their profession and lifestyle determining much of their look. Most Aretai tend to prize physical beauty and do their best to maintain their looks until it is no longer possible.

Aretai have faces that age much like humans on Ortho with it almost impossible to mistake a adult Proud Folk for a child. Almost as if there was a need to compensate, most Aretai males prize broken noses and scars. A strong tradition of athletics and fighting exists in almost every Aretai community.

It is noteworthy that Aretai are the only Harmonium soldiers that disdain the uniforms of their kind and most join Provincial Pride units as well (this excuse helps cover up their disgust at working with the typical brutality of Hobgoblin or Orcish soldiers). The Aretai Provincial Prides prefer to wear a bright silver sheen plated version of the normal Harmonium red. This is due to their desire to emphasize their devotion to the light of goodness.

Like Dwarves, Aretai must struggle twice as hard to be taken seriously on the battlefield by certain groups (especially Orcs or Hobgoblins). Most martial Aretai favor quarterstaves, spears, and ranged weapons to help offset their size advantage or mounted combat. While some enemies may take the sight of an Aretai in full plate mail on the back of a great cat to be something comical, they rarely live long enough to make the mistake twice. Spellcasting Aretai, of course, have no such problem.

Alignment: The majority of Aretai are Good with a significant number of those Proud Folk being Lawful. In general, Aretai consider the OCA's obsession with lawfulness to be bizarre. It is much more important to be a courageous and decent person than it is to be obedient to the law.

Neutral and Evil Aretai exist but they are abberations in society. Some mildly racist talk from within the Proud Folk's community has that these individuals were corrupted from too much contact with the frequently vicious outside OCA community.

The Aretai tend to deal with evil members of their (that have not performed capital crimes) by rites of ostracism. Those exiled from one community will often find themselves banished from all.

Aretai Lands: The Aretai a significant, if not majority, race in Omospondia and live a culture dominated by the worship of heroes. Unlike amongst Orcs, this does not necessarilly limit itself to martial accomplishments. Great Healers, Sportsmen, Thinkers, and the like are often treated to the royal treatment. Most of their cities, and they have several urban metropolises, cater to the larger folk but tend to keep them isolated from the rest of the city due to the 'bad influence' certain races seem to carry. The exception, of course, is government buildings that are made to accomadate all sorts.

The Proud Folk are spread throughout Ortho with the only lands they are not found in being Motmurk and Thaera. The Motmurk met their only total defeat at the hands of 'Halflings' when they attempted to takeover their homeland. Aretai find themselves abused or assaulted when inside the borders of the land. Thaera once held a massive kingdom of Aretai that lived in peace with most of the chaotic peoples there. That Kingdom, called Ottolon, was annihilated by the Hobgoblin race. It is still a sore point with most of the Proud Folk who think the Hobgoblins should have never been allowed to join the Harmonium.

Religion: Before the rise of the Harmonium, the Aretai worshiped the benevolent gods of the Lords of Order and Chaos equally. Since that time, most of the festivals and rites to the Lords of Chaos have been renamed but are otherwise unchanged.

Aretai have an intimate relationship with the gods that favors personal reverance and mystical experiance over dogma. Conversely, countless Aretai emerge whom gain the power of spellcasting but an almost equal number of self-deluded frauds exist. Almost all of the race is familiar with the legends of the past where members of their race conversed with the gods.

Languages: The Proud Folk speak Ortho Common and have learned to speak most of the languages of the other major races. Most Aretai also speak the language of their ancestral home even if their family has lived generations away from it.

Names: Aretai favor names that are heroic and bombastic sounding. Solonar Foehammer, Chabrias Brightsun, and so on are all common examples of Proud Folk names.

Adventurers: A surprisingly large number of Aretai become wandering holy men. The Aretai religious tradition favors self-appointed servants of the gods who do the work of the divine outside of the traditional clergy structure. Needless to say, this annoys a great number of the genuine clergy in the OCA. However, these holy men are freed from their duties to devote themselves fully to battling evil. Many of these holy men also multi-class with the Monk class.

Aretai Fighters are the next most common. A bizarrely disproportionate number of Paladins exist amongst the Proud Folk. Despite their lesser numbers, almost as many Paladins exist amongst Aretai as they do amongst humans.

Some Aretai choose to become Wizards or are gifted with the powers of Sorcery. In general, the profession of Rogue is treated with significant disdain and disrespect.

Aretai Racial Traits

* +2 Wisdom.
* -2 Strength.
* Small: As a Small creature, a Aretai gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
* Aretai base land speed is 20 feet.
* +2 racial bonus on Concentration, Knowledge (Religion), Knowledge (Metaphysics), and Knowledge (Ortho History) checks.
* +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
* +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the halfling’s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
* +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Omospondia. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
* Favored Class: Cleric