Humans

A human woman with a staff and book.

Humans are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to most other races. Whatever drives them, humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds.

## Physiology

With their penchant for migration and conquest, humans are more physically diverse than other common races. There is no typical human. An individual can generally stand from under 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds.

Human skin shades range from nearly black to very pale. and hair colors range from black to blond (curly. kinky. or straight).

Some humans, typically men, sport facial hair that is sparse or thick.

A lot of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood. revealing hints of elf. orc, or other lineages. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live even a single century.

## Common Personality Traits

Humans are the most adaptable and ambitious people among the common races. They have widely varying tastes, morals, and customs in the many different lands where they have settled.

Humans live fully in the present - making them well suited to the adventuring life - but they also plan for the future, striving to leave a lasting legacy. Individually and as a group, humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay alert to changing political and social dynamics.

Humans dream of immortality, but (except for those few who seek undeath or divine ascension to escape death's clutches) they achieve it by ensuring that they will be remembered when they are gone.

Humans who seek adventure are the most daring and ambitious members of a daring and ambitious race. They seek to earn glory in the eyes of their fellows by amassing power, wealth, and fame. More than other people, humans champion causes rather than territories or groups.

Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mingle with members of other races. They get along with almost everyone, though they might not be close to many. Humans serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kinds. Their opinions on the races they most frequently come into contact with are as follows:

* **Dwarves**. "They're stout folk, stalwart friends, and true to their word. Their greed for gold is their downfall, though."
* **Elves**. "ll's best not to wander into elven woods. They don't like intruders, and you'll as likely be bewitched as peppered with arrows. Still, if an elf can get past that damned racial pride and actually treat you like an equal, you can leam a lot from them."
* **Halflings**. "ll's hard to beat a meal in a halfling home, as long as you don't crack your head on the ceiling - good food and good stories in front of a nice, warm fire. If halflings had a shred of ambition, they might really amount to something."

## Society

When humans settle, they stay: they build cities to last for the ages, and great kingdoms that can persist for long centuries. An individual human might have a relatively short life span, but a human nation or culture preserves traditions with origins far beyond the reach of any single human's memory.

Where a single elf or dwarf might take on the responsibility of guarding a special location or a powerful secret, humans found sacred orders and institutions for such purposes. While dwarf clans and halfling elders pass on the ancient traditions to each new generation, human temples, governments, libraries, and codes of law fix their traditions in the bedrock of history.

Although some humans can be xenophobic, in general their societies are inclusive. Human lands welcome large numbers of nonhumans compared lo the proportion of humans who live in nonhuman lands.

The material culture and physical characteristics of humans can change wildly from region lo region.

## Names

Having so much more variety than other cultures, humans as a whole have no typical names. Some human parents give their children names from other languages, such as Dwarvish or Elvish (pronounced more or less correctly), but most parents give names that are linked lo their region's culture or to the naming traditions of their ancestors.

## Gameplay Traits

#### Age

Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.

#### Alignment

Humans tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them in equal measure.

#### Size

Humans vary widely in height and build, from just under 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall.

#### Language

Humans can choose one extra language. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.