Anthropocentric
I don’t know if I ever told you guys, but it’s Chris Perkins that got me into GMing. I was in a deadly dull office job at the time, and I’d yet to discover Reddit. That made Perkins’s weekly “The Dungeon Master Experience” articles vital for my continued sanity. You can still find ’em over here (just click “Dungeon Master Experience” in the dropdown menu), and they’re still worth a read despite the intervening years and edition changes.
I bring those articles up today because of Perkins’s custom setting. Every article drew on the latest happenings from his weekly campaign, and it’s that campaign setting that brings our lovable kobold Pugilist into the equation.
Iomandra was the name of the game, and that island-world was dominated not by humans, but by dragonborn. A world of empires controlled by bipedal reptile folk demands a different feel than the standard human world. Caste systems based on scale color become a concern. Egg thievery steps in for kidnapping as a plot device. The standard talk of “infinite human adaptability” recedes, and the constellation of racial/cultural relationships shifts accordingly.
So imagine the plight of poor Pug there in the barber’s chair. She’s trying her best to fit into a human-dominated society, adapting to the local fashion as best she can. Some lizardfolk have been known to go to ridiculous extremes for the sake of current trends. Imagine then what it might look like if the shoe was on the other claw. How would mammalian folk adapt if lizards ruled the world? Scaly makeup? False tails? Acquiring a taste for raw meat cuisine?
For today’s discussion question, what do you say we indulge in a little bit of worldbuilding? Pick a non-human race as your dominant species. How does that world deviate from the standard anthropocentic fantasy? Do drow construct elaborate sun-shades in their above-ground outposts? Is food scarce in a warforged society? Are aarakocra towns built into the sides of cliffs? Let’s hear all about your exotic inhuman campaign settings down in the comments!
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Now, you’d think that an average human wouldn’t have much trouble adapting to a life in Shecor. I mean, the nation is something like 99% tieflings. It is perfectly normal there to see a guy with eyestalks trying to woo a tailed beauty while her minotaur-like partner of indeterminate sexual characteristics is distracted by a hoofed merchant. Surely in a place that caters to such a varied population a human should have no problem meeting all their needs? And you’d be right… up until the moment when snow starts falling from the sky. I swear to gods first time I was there I almost froze to death. There was no warm clothing anywhere. Hells, everything was as revealing as possible because apparently the locals love to show off their mutations. Fucking fiendlings don’t care, what with their elemental resistances they wear the same thing be it summer heat or winter blizzard. But if your ancient ancestors happened to have less questionable tastes, well, I hope you’re currently close to a major city and have the coin to spare on some “ethnic wear” store where you get to pay premium to look like a caricature of a tavern wench. Otherwise, you might be [some word in abyssal] out of luck.
Ha! I dig the inversion:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/traditional-garment
Good show!
I’ve actually done this a number of times. Though all for the same setting and one of the two countries in the setting has actually come up in games I’ve run and the other one was more mixed. Though I wouldn’t call it “human-centric” population wise even if it still more or less works out that way.
The other was a mostly desert country with dinosaurs (they stored liquid like camels). The country was psuedo-ancient japan themed… though more like a half way point between ancient japan and standard medieval fantasy rather intentionally. (By which I mean I was intentionally mixing elements together in a strange way.)
Now you may be wondering “Wait, ancient japan themed but… in a desert? Wouldn’t the reliance on wood be an issue there?” And you would be absolutely right. The country pre-the cataclysmic magic war that left it desert-ified was very lush. After that they had to come up with a way to make paper and wood-like material out of sand with a good dose of alchemy and magic. They called it wud.
Ok right and to the actual question. The races. So I pretty much entirely inverted the pecking order. Dragonborn, Changelings, Drow (yes on the surface), Thri-Kreen, Shifters, Tieflings, Half-Orcs, Gith, Genasi, Kalashtar, and Shardminds (the setting was created pre-5e) were the dominant races. All others were slave races (though there were certainly freed slaves and descendants of them about). With the exception of Kobolds which were in neither category and were nomadic desert people.
The Changelings had stolen the ancestral home of the Shardminds… literally. It was a large area called the Flowstone that slowly moved about on its own. At some point they took it from the Shardminds and used magic to speed up and control its movement and ever since they have kept its location secret.
The main Drow city has at the center that was a corrupted artifact of Pelor that now blocks out the sun’s light for miles around.
Do the the natural devastation fey races (including Elves and Gnomes) are extremely rare. Though there are rumored oasis that are the few remaining connections in the country to the Feywild.
The society has a caste system that iirc correctly worked something like this: Nobility > Skilled Artisans > Soldiers > Farmers > Merchants > Common People > Kobolds > Common Slave Races People > Slaves.
There was a good amount of artificer stuff and psionic stuff in the setting. With aberrations being a major problem and psions being the world’s immune response to them. Which of course was caused in the first place by the magic catacylsm weakening the barrier between the material plane and the far realm there.
Also there were some extra deadly places like the Ashen Wastes which is a sub-desert of ash and basically radioactive magic…. in a place that’s already a desert caused by destructive magic gone awry. As far as anyone is aware not only does nobody live there, nothing probably can live there except maybe a whole bunch of undead. Which would be a surprise as it’s centered on where there once was the largest city in the country pre-cataclysm times.
As you can tell, it’s heavily Dark Sun inspired, but I wanted to do my own thing with it.
But in the setting there are other countries that are very non-human centric.
Like one where it’s all shorties. Dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and pixies. But because I don’t like short races much, that’s the one that really post-apocalyptic and is overrun with undead, fiends, aberrations, and evil warforged. (This too is a “magic gone wrong” setting but not because of warfare and instead because of big oopsies with artificing.)
Or another country that’s almost entirely overlapping with the Feywild where the surface level is actually a few inches to a few feet underwater and most people. That country is largely gnomes and halflings that live on/near the surface and elves that live way up in the trees. With wood elves living closer to the surface and high elves and eladrin living so far up most of them haven’t even seen this “ground” thing they’re taught about in school.
lol @ “wud”
I dig your Kashyyyk setting though. Giants forests are always fun for death defying stunts and cool treehouse architecture.
I have something for goblins!!
Give me a sec to fish it out, and I can show you about the Viyborn, cute goblins that were the result of a grand breeding experiment by a drow researcher!
shuffles papers
Alright here it is, hope you like it!! I can also show you about the fauni if you want to hear about goat people. 😛
Also warning there is a complete disregard about grammer and punctation so beware!!!
As one of the three races that survived the original destruction of their homelands, the Viyborn stand as a peculiar race that have been known to inhabit the civilized world to say the least.
With their origins being just as strange as they are, having been not been created by the gods, or by the simple evolutionary standard that many see but by the willingness of drow intellect and experimentation. As a Drow Researcher by the name of Isten Vorman began to think of a theory, a theory that if breeding could affect horses or plants, could affect a humanoid being? What if certain traits could be selected and encouraged through the use of similar breeding methods already put in place? How would it happen, and most importantly what would be the results?
Intrigued and most importantly amused by this observation he quickly set out to carry out this experiment. Purchasing a ‘stable’ and a stock of slaves of his own he quickly set them to the ’employment’ of a few friends of his who would use them for whatever purpose they agreed upon.
Over the course of many many years the goblins were slowly cultivated, those with desirable traits such as good looks, well manner of speaking, and of keen of thought were kept. While those that did not were quickly sold away to the slave markets where they would be used as beasts of labor or burden until their untimely deaths.
Eventually as he began to study and observe his findings, others began to caught wind of what Isten was doing and so began to uncanny trade. Hiring animal breeders and farmers as consultation and of studying past tomes of knowledge to get a sense of the process.
When Isten finally did finalize and publish his studies it was only then that he began to notice how much of a influence that he had over the breeding and slavery world. Rebellious and unsightly slaves have been replaced by much more lively and charming ones, and of how many clamored to him over his knowledge and findings of this new uncanny trade. Cementing his status as a breeder and of a enlightener over the ‘small’ (uncivilized) races.
For the Viyborn their lives slowly began to shape and build destroying the remnants of their old ways and building upon it a new culture. A culture upon the importance of one’s friends and family, and of how the outside world should not be trifled with if it does not bother with them. But if it does, then it is to be rewarded with its just rewards, whether in kindness or with harm.
Eventually given freedom a scant three hundred years ago when the Under-folk migrated into the new world the Viborn stand as a small or often dwarven like in size. Their skin is a brownish green while carrying the traits of a goblin but having been molded to be more of cherubic and endearing look to them. A trait that has made even the elves jealous of at times thanks to their looks.
The eyes of the Viyborn are often lit with curiosity or with the sense of industry. With many taking upon the roles of artists and bards within the new world creating curious works of art often under the patron ship of a Drow or Dwarf. The races and their kind that migrated with them to the new world.
Today they mainly live either in the common lands within their community, or under the citys and towns of the Dwarf and Drow where they live their lives.
OHH OHH I ALSO HAVE THE WOOD ELVES, AND HIGH ELVES!! And like most of the races!!! XD
Making your own custom world is fun because each race doesen’t have to be like standard fantasy.
Like Drow are actually more choatic neutral and are often trusted more then normal elves and dwarves became lawful neutral rather than lawful good.
Wood elves became neutral evil because they have the same mindset as the Spaniards during their exploration of the new world and etc.
And high elves I have not written yet XD
Making your own world man ‘w’)
I’ve been writing/gming using it for about a year now and i still have so much to write!!!
But you know I still didnt really explain most of the stuff
like what are underfolk, and etc
Or about the world, and etc so sorry for that.
Heh. I also happen to have something for goblins:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/153361
One of my more recent games had the Drau Aristocracy, where the primary portion of the population was human, but the twist was that the aristocratic families were all openly undead. As such the ways the ‘families’ expanded was by adopting from the peasantry. Their tithes were in the form of sustenance and coin, rather than standard food etc.
In exchange, the peasantry was defended by an ever-expanding army of powerful undead, so y’know win-win. They were one of the two global superpowers, and had an active role in terms of foreign affairs, primarily regarding undead, since necromancers doing shady stuff since that made them look bad, and people tended to avoid messing with travelling Drau nobles since they didn’t want to cause diplomatic incidents with a superpower and most of them were genuinely powerful undead.
They say the plants were green once, long ago. Those days are little more than a legend after a thousand years of rule by the Necrophage. The huge stacks of hive-cities belch smoke from their smelters and forges, from their furnaces and incinerators. The landscape is cold, bleak, and hostile, the few wild plants barely clinging to life under ash-choked skies. The only pockets of heat are around the cities, where rows of stilted plants are cared for by low-form workers and slaves of dozens of races.
Some humans still live out in the wilds, though most of the species serve as slaves to the insectile Necrophage. Some few, however, have turned traitor, selling out their fellows for a better life for them and their families. These ‘least-form’ often try and adapt as best they can to fit necrophage society, shaving all their body hair, and getting intricate tattoos to make their skin seem less human. Between that and the mental damage betraying one’s race to live among a swarm of intelligent omnivorous locusts does to a person, first-generation least-form often are a good deal less than human, though further generations are usually more stable.
For reference: https://endlesslegend.gamepedia.com/Necrophages
I do love me some Endless legends! Which faction, in your opinion would make the worst overlords? The bug-like swarm of Necrophages? The terrifying, bizarre, and insane Morgawr? Or the Cult of the Eternal End?
I’m not sure which one I’d least like to live under, but I think I find the Cult the creepiest.
Ironically, the Broken Lord vampires are fine and dandy by comparison haha.
Hey, fellow Endless Legend fans!
Hmmm, worst overlords. I’d say it’s a toss-up between the Cultists and Morgawr, who will totally conscript you into their armies, though at least with the Cult you’ll be brainwashed into being a good little zealot and won’t actually care that much (whereas the Morgawr tend to use minor faction units as suicide bombs). The Necrophages might just see you as food, but at least that’s a cold and impersonal sort of disregard.
I’d also like to put forward that it would really suck to be a non-Kapaku living in their territory, even if your overlords eventually decide to try coexisting with the rest of the planet instead of just volcanoforming everything.
Honestly? For me its a toss up between the Cultists (creepy brainwashing robots/assholes) and the Ardent Mages, but mostly because I have a really low pain threshold, and I would find their casual torture for funsies a living hell. Honestly living in the Morgwar territory as something other than a soldier would be totally fine. Sure they might not think of you very much, but I’d bet in an actual world they’d outsource a lot of land-based infrastructures if they could. And for the Necrophages, well, there’s the example of Kha Riss to follow; just prove yourself useful to them, and they keep you around!
Necropolis is a harsh land dominated by the undead. It lies in the wastelands, a blighted region where no living could establish cities near. Yet this also poses an issue, for though the undead never need to eat, drink, or sleep, they are reliant on the living to increase their numbers and replace those that fall. The solution to the harshly practical undead aristocracy seemed obvious: breed their own stock.
Some lesser civilizations such as drow or mindflayers might use living humanoids as slaves. But the undead have no need for this; zombies and skeletons can perform the menial labor needed without rest, complaint, or threat of revolt. Humanoids serve no purpose aside from replenishing their numbers, so it behooves Necropolis to ensure that they breed well. At the same time, lesser undead are useful in plentiful numbers, while more powerful undead often require rare reagents, strong magics, and strong souls to form. There must be a weeding-out process. And that process is the arena and the harem.
The arena is where the males are primarily weeded out. Infants are raised from birth to view the mortals as pathetically transient, little more valuable than mayflies, while undeath is the sign of true power, prestige, and immortality. They are trained in combat, in martial skill and cunning. And when they reach sufficient age, they are organized into small parties and sent to the arena to fight to the death. The losers are promptly reanimated as zombies, skeletons, or sometimes ghouls, and put to labor. The winners earn prestige and a trip to the harem. They have proven themselves of decent stock, worthy to breed and pass on their traits. Some victors catch the attention of undead patrons, who may even outfit them with items and additional magics and training.
This pattern continues until a select stock is weeded down to just a few parties. They are both enacting survival of the fittest and providing entertainment for the intelligent undead, who watch and place bets on them. Occasionally to make things more interesting the undead will pit parties against more unusual challenges, such as running through a gauntlet or facing terrible beasts that, if slain, are reanimated as well. The quarterfinalists are brought back as more powerful undead than mere zombie and skeletons, perhaps a wraith of a ghast, but are forever resigned to a lesser caste. The semi-finalists earn a more powerful rank of undeath, but are still resigned to a second caste. Only the true finalists earn the title of the most powerful undead, vampire lord, mummy lord, doom knight, and others, and join the undead aristocracy as members of the highest caste.
The vast majority of arena combatants are males; women are typically kept in the harem, and those that are no longer able to reproduce are often deemed to old to throw to the arena and are simply killed outright and reanimated or fed to ghouls. However, there are exceptions, usually either women who are infertile or who anger someone in the harem enough that they are punished by being thrown from the harem to the arena. There are also women who are captured from conquests or caravan raids, and if they have martial prowess they are sometimes seen as more valuable in the arena. The latter group is most likely to advance far, as the former have not received the training that the males have had, and only the very talented and lucky can overcome this starting disadvantage.
The harem is where the majority of the women reside. They are the prize for arena victors and the source of new humanoid stock. However, they do not just sit around idly until such time comes; Necropolis sees that is a waste of resources. Rather, they are forced to rigorously study, initially mundane material, but those that prove themselves able move on to studying magic. This is just as cutthroat as the arena; the tests and exams are graded by ranks, and those that fall behind are resigned to mere breeding or, if deemed unfit for that, thrown to the arena or slain and reanimated as a zombie. As with the arena, those that prove themselves able move higher and higher, until the truly distinguished are granted privileged breeding status and, when no longer able to breed, ascend to the ranks of the necropolis, with the best rising as liches, mummy ladies, and the like.
It is a brutal society, one in which living humanoids live as slaves and chattel and are constantly reinforced of their worthlessness. Yet the undead are careful to let them have a glimmer of hope and social mobility, and this chance for power, immortality, and prestige keeps most working within the system by choice. Those few who see the cruelty and evil are still usually cowed to submission by the powerful undead all around. There are a few quirks that have arisen in both humanoids and undead because of this system. One is that there are a higher than normal number of mixed race humanoids, as it is not uncommon for lower ranking arena victors to not have access another member of their species offered to them in the harem.
Another quirk is that the undead aristocracy is split sharply along gendered lines, with the vast majority of the martial and physically strong being male and the vast majority of those strong with magic being female. There are a few exceptions of course. The most notable are the lich Turthok, formerly a male wizard apprentice who was captured in the conquest of a town but proved himself in the arena; the Nightwalker Fenthill, a harem slave sentenced to the arena for insubordination and angering the harem master, who quickly proved herself a highly competent fighter and quickly rose through the ranks; the Mummy Lord Aktonkalo, a male born with sorcery in the blood who used magic rather than might to advance through the arena, and considered very valuable breeding stock before his advancement; and the Vampire Lady Jala, a former caravan guard captured on a raid, but she impressed the undead enough that they thought she would be more useful in the arena than the harem. Still, they are notable because they are exceptions. It is of note that some, particularly Turthok and Jala, would like to see more male magic users and female martials respectively in the aristocracy, and so are common patrons to arena parties who have one of these.
The majority of humanoids thus live a dismal life, trained in their inferiority as living but hoping for advancement. They know most of them will see their end as a pitiful zombie or skeleton, swelling the undead ranks for labor and conquest, but hope to be those luck few who become more. Their circumstances are harsh and austere, given only what they need to survive and do their task. Necropolis is the land of the dead and for the dead; the living are just breeding stock and entertainment.
Human Wizard: “Hey X, why do you bother wearing clothes? I’m pretty sure you don’t have sex-organs.”
Warforged Fighter: “Excellent question Wizard-Unit. The X Manchina-Unit (It was the tenth (X) Machine (Machina) in its’ series) is programmed to protect and spread civilization. This includes complying with the laws of such civilizations. -Loading quip- The X Machina-unit wears pants because it’s the law.”
In my setting Dwarves are a lot more dominant. This basically means they’re carrying on Dwarfing it up, but their position is a lot more stable because they don’t need to constantly reclaim their cities. Rather than running other species lives, they’re content to live in their mountains profiting from them and occasionally sending missionaries. This did however result in a cultural split among the Dwarves since they were prosperous enough to allow disharmony.
The Stone clans are your standard stuffy hierarchical traditionalist Dwarves. Their government is a council of clan elders answering to a king. (Always a king, never a queen. Stuffy traditionalists.) If your last name is something like StoneHelm, StoneFist, etc. you’re one of them. Their capitol is “The Mountain of Tradition” which gets translated into common as “Classic Rock”.
The Gold clans are your merchant lord Dwarves. Their government is a loose kleptocracy run by a series of industry lobbies. Indentured servitude for X years is the standard punishment for any crime, and you can always buy your way out. If your last name is something like GoldAxe, GoldQuill, etc. you’re one of them. Their capitol is “The Mountain of Splendors” which gets translated into common as “Glam Rock”.
The Iron clans are Dwarves who took their Lawful Good nature to silly extremes and became a bunch of wacky communists. Their government is a council of representatives; both geographical and for various industries/military branches. All children are raised by the state to ensure no nepotism. The children of enemy races are raised alongside Dwarves (Their solution to the baby-Orc dilemma) resulting in a sizable minority of Orcs/HOrcs, and Goblinoids. If your last name is something like “IronBlood, IronHammer, etc.) you’re one of them. Their capitol is “The mountain of progress” which gets translated into common as “ProgRock”.
Stout Halflings and Rock Gnomes often live as ethnic minorities among the Dwarves.
I get the feeling that today’s comic was inspired by this picture.
https://i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0327/41/1402635492768.jpg
With that hairdo, Pug has all the bases needed to establish an OTP. I vote Gunslinger. Or Monk. Or Street Samurai. Or [INSERT PATREON CONTENT HERE].
Ha HA! I have finally caught up! Now I can engage in real-time discussion!
Had an idea for a world bouncing around that was dwarf dominated, but the reasons for a lot of the weirdness of dwarven culture were severe biological differences from humans. Dwarves being eusocial monotremes, so like bearded surly leafcutter ants/clothed mole rats. Thus the relative lack of ‘female’ dwarves because the ones you see adventuring are the sterile workers or soldiers and the fertile ones back heavily defended in the dwarf holds. The intense nationalism/clannishness is because the whole ‘nation’ is literally their family; intense loyalty to their Queen because she’s literally their mother. They spend most of their time undertround because as monotremes they’re only mesothermic instead of fully endothermic, so stable temperatures let them survive year round instead of having to hibernate in winter.
So, they’re the reason the many dungeons and vast caves of the world exist; their fungal agriculture is the basis of the food chain for the whole ‘underdark’ of the world. Monarchism amongst humans developed as simple mimicry of what they saw amongst the dwarves. Since all the great cities are subterranean and dwarf scale, shorter people with no claustrophobia are more successful traders. Ability to tolerate strong/fungal dwarven ales without dying is a sign of high society and nobility amongst other races. Sunglasses made from polished obsidian, in imitation of the ones the dwarves make themselves when they have to spend much time on the surface, are also considered high society. There were more things, I forget them all…
On the subject of cultural standards; I get pug not wearing a shirt because no breasts, but why does she need pants? Reptiles have retractable junk.
Pockets?
I actually did party with a Lizadfolk who wore a belt with several attached pouches for that reason. No pants though.
I guess this explains the ‘Deep Tissue Scalp Massage’ sign Barbarian has out back? Sort of?
I think a Firbolg-led society might prove stifling; everyone could be a disguise self ‘d Firbolg playing at ‘undercover boss’….
Why will anything change at all? The answer to: “What if Y instead of X” is “Then X but with Y instead”. If the king is dead, long live the king. I love worldbuilding, but i think that interesting is better than different. Different caught the attention, interesting instead bound it.
So lets head to the challenge. How will a drow dominated world be? Even less non-drow elves, more slaves and it will be the same. Instead of humans going into adventures the pc can be drow going on a mission, or adventures. I was thinking about warfare, on one hand drow are more warmongering than their cousins, on the other they are more cautious and insidious, so maybe there could be more wars, maybe less as they take their time to muster forces and weaken their enemies to fight less if at all when the moment to strike comes. The slaves will be more or less like the peasants a bunch of ignorant inbreeding town. In the same way that the nasty knights can’t always bully every peasant even when they claim that all of them belong to him, a drow noble wouldn’t be able to harass every peasant. What is more in a drow dominated world slaves are more abounding because drow are the ones who bestow the title to anyone else other than them, so maybe as it is a world of drows and slaves, the fair dark master of everything will be more cautious of an uprising. In a normal game drow are a power of the underdark, but still out-numbered by the surface dwellers, in this world, even with a increased drow population, the ratio slave-master will be increased in favor of the slaves. Thinks about this, even in a normal game, humans are just one more race, yes they can be more numerous, but the rest of the races combined can out-number them, so the same will be for our drow. The motivations to going into adventure will change, slightly if at all, power, knowledge, riches, boys and girls to impress with battlefield and bedchamber prowess, all this things are not alien to them. Instead of getting revenge of the orks who destroy their hometown, our adventures are looking for revenge of the dwarfs who destroy their hometown for example. Architecture will be more spidery, clothes will change and the Zeitgeist will be different, but if you look closely and with a little cynicism you will see this dark new world is more or less the same as the old.
In the planet of the apes the biggest change is that the dominant race is more hairy, there are still fights and war, slavery, discrimination, suffering and hope for a better world. As i said, an interesting world is more engaging than a different one. For example, The Witcher, in this world elves are second class citizens and some of them join the Scoia’tael, terrorists and liberators. This elves are just the Aen Seidhe, thereis also the Aen Elle, who are elves from other world, they are the dominant force of their world, they cross to raid other realms and capture humans to be their slaves. Still there is good, bad, caring, uncaring and scheming people on Tir Na Lia. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again 🙂
I wrote a setting once that was really human-centric, but did it in an odd way. There were at least 5 known other races that were basically “humans started living near this magical imbalance or decided to muck about with the elemental spirits, and now they are this way and they breed true.” Four of them were basically elemental people, based on the four traditional elements of Fire, Earth, Air and Water. They were complete with their own home locations and odd cultural things, because it was really living in the location so long that made them elemental people. There was a big debate among the religions on if the “children of the elements” as they were called, were still human. The fifth race was less known and more speculated, because they had specifically been treating with a powerful spirit of deception and had gained the ability to change their body shapes. The “faceshifters” served as doppelganger-isk bogeymen in the lore, but were actually keeping their very existence mostly in the realm of secret.
Pug and Barbie, just as I’d hoped for.
I mentioned the novel I’m working on once. There are no dwarves or elves. I have humans, animal people like Kitsunes, nature spirits like dryads, and a dragonborn type of race. I homebrewed it myself for Pathfinder.