Choosing your Ancestry

## What is an Ancestry?

* A Character's Ancestry relates to the a combination of a Character's parentage, upbringing and cultural background.
* It is a representation of a Character's traits prior to them beginning their Story.

### Choosing an Ancestry

* Frequently in fiction Characters are depicted as having extraordinary capabilities beyond the norm, frequently due to their parentage or unique upbringing.
* Your choice of Ancestry represents these capabilities.
* In some Settings, only the Human Ancestry may be chosen (e.g. Modern Horror settings).
* In other Settings, such as Science Fiction and Fantasy Settings, you may choose from a wide range of different Ancestries which are present within those settings.

* Your choice of Ancestry will confer mechanical benefits to your Character, the most important of which being your Primary and Secondary Ancestry Features.
* The Primary and Secondary Features can be representations of a Characters upbringing, cultural background, or capabilities inherited from their parentage. The source of these Features are left to the interpretation of the Players at the Table.
* Some Ancestry Features may synergize particularly well with your chosen Archetype, or they may make you more capable in situations your Archetype may be weak at.
* The intent is that any combination of Archetype and Ancestry will lead to an enjoyable play experience, so feel free to experiment and find the right combination for your Character.

### Background Features

* A Background represents the skills, languages and training a Character will have gained through their experiences before the Story.
* These may have been gained through schooling, their job, or other aspects of their life.
* For each Ancestry we recommend Skills, Tool Skills and Languages which Characters with a particular Ancestry would typically have, however the experiences and upbringings of Characters within each Ancestry will vary substantially, therefore Players are strongly encouraged to choose options which fit their vision of their Characters.

#### Setting Backgrounds

* In some Settings, Characters are able to choose a "Setting Background".
* These represent sets of features which Characters could have only gained from being a part of a particular Setting, and may provide a way for your Character to be better integrated into the world they exist within.
* If using a Setting Background, you gain the features of the Setting Background only, and do not benefit from the features granted by your Ancestry.
* Setting Backgrounds are especially prevalent in Settings where only the Human Ancestry is permitted, representing additional ways to customize your Character in the absence of multiple Ancestry options.

## Ancestry Features

* Each Ancestry includes the following details:

### Primary Features

* Each Ancestry includes one or more options for your Primary Features.
* These will grant a powerful or frequently useful ability to your Character, so special attention should be given to this when choosing your Ancestry.

* Your Primary Features may also determine your Character's Creature Type and any Size Restrictions they may have.
* When you choose a Primary Feature, add the Features described to the Features Sections of your Character Sheet (Page 1).

#### Creature Type

* The vast majority of Characters have the Humanoid Creature Type, however in some cases a Character may have a different Creature Type.
* Creature Type will affect how certain rules of the game will interact with them (e.g. the Charm Person Spell may affect Characters with the Humanoid Creature Type only).
* The Primary Feature will only specify a Character's Creature Type if it differs from the Humanoid Type.

#### Size Restrictions

* The vast majority of Characters may be either Small or Medium Sized. Choose which Size they are when you choose your Ancestry.
* A Small Sized Creature is typically between 2 - 4ft tall (the size of most Human Children), while a Medium Sized Creature is typically between 4-8ft tall (the size of most Adult Humans).
* In some cases, an Ancestry will specify what Size you are.
* The Primary Feature will only specify a Character's Size if it differs from the Default (a choice between Small or Medium Sized)
* Small Sized Characters are in some respect more limited in how they may interact with the world.
	+ For example, they have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls with Heavy Weapons and are less able to grapple Characters which are larger than themselves.
	+ Many features in the game may allow them to overcome these limitations.

### Secondary Features

* Each Ancestry also includes one or more weaker options for you Secondary Features.
* These will grant either weak or only circumstantially beneficial abilities to your Character.
* When you choose a Secondary Feature, add the Features described to the Features Sections of your Character Sheet (Page 1).

## Lore

* Each Ancestry includes suggested Lore regarding the biology, history and society of Characters with that Ancestry.
* This information in this section is only provided as a suggestion to Players, and groups may freely decide upon changes or differences to the Lore of these Ancestries freely.

### Appearance

* This section describes the typical appearance of Characters with this Ancestry.

### Lifespan

* This section describes the typical lifespan of Characters with this Ancestry.

### Age of Maturity

* This section describes the typical age at which Characters with this Ancestry are of an age where they would be considered old enough to make important decisions for themselves. For example, the age of Maturity of Humans would typically be considered between 18-21.
* A range is given to reflect different societal expectations, variation between individuals and periods of transition from adolescence to adulthood.
* In many adventures it may be considered unsuitable or inappropriate to use a Character within or below the Ages of Maturity. (See Session Zero for more)

### History

* The history of an Ancestry will describe the important and relevant information which Players may wish to know about their Character's origins.
* This history may be setting specific in some cases, while in others we try to give broader ideas regarding the origin of an Ancestry, and leave the "true" interpretation of the Ancestry to the discretion of the Players and GM.

## Combining Ancestries

* Potentially your Character will inherit traits from more than one Ancestry
* Perhaps they are the resulting offspring of Characters from two different Ancestries, or the traits of a distant ancestor are perhaps more pronounced within them. Or perhaps your Character has no mixed parentage and has simply been brought up in an environment more typical of, or in the company of, Characters with a different Ancestry.
* Note that Ancestry Features represent features which could be gained through a loose combination of parentage, upbringing and culture. Therefore there are many ways in which a Character may reasonably gain the features of another Ancestry.
* To combine the traits of two Ancestries, follow the below guidelines:

### Choose which Primary Features to gain

* Pick one set of Primary features of one of the two Ancestries available to you.
* Note that your Primary feature may in some cases determine your Size Category and your Creature Type. In such cases, you must use the Size Category and Creature Type of that Primary Feature.

### Choose which Secondary Features to gain

* Pick one set of Secondary features of one of the two Ancestries available to you.

### Choosing a Background

* Pick one set of the two Ancestry's Background, or choose a Setting Background available to your setting.
* If a Background Setting has an Ancestry Pre-requisite, you qualify for that Setting Background if one of the two chosen Ancestries were required for that Background.

### Combining Lore

* For the most part, this is in the hands of the Player to decide how the physical appearance of a Character from both Ancestries may be determined.
* However for the Lifespan and Age of Maturity, we recommend simply taking the Average value of each one if the Character has parentage from either Ancestry.
	+ For example, an Elf who typically lives for 800 years and a human who may live for typically upto 80 years whould have an average lifespan given by (80+800)/2=440 years.
	+ Similarly if the age of maturity of an Elf is 90-110 and that of a Human is 18-21, the Age of Maturity of would be (90+18)/2 - (110+21)/2 = 54-65

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## Copyright Notice

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

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This work includes material taken from "7e” by Peter Rees and materials taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Both "7e" and the "SRD5.1" are Licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode