Korovia - The Free License Fantasy World

Races:

Aasimar & Tieflings do exist in Korovia, but are extremely rare. They are remnants of recent attempts by demons/devils to gain a foothold on Korovia, and likewise other planar creatures stepping forward to oppose those demons and devils. Half-Celestials and Half-Fiends also fall into this category.

Elves: Sylvania contains a mixed population of High Elves, Gray, Snow, Wood, Wild, Drow and even Sea Elves. See the DMG for the different modifiers. An elf’s favoured class is Wizard OR Sorcerer, but not both. Wood Elves favour Ranger and Wild & Snow Elves favour Barbarian. There are no winged elves (avariels) in Korovia. Snow Elves are the most rare, as they are nomadic and most of them have travelled farther north.

Dwarven spellcasters are considered to be 4 levels higher when making magical weapons and armour out of items that they crafted themselves. This ability effects the maximum bonus that can be applied to the item and also what abilities can be given to the item. Normally a 12th level spellcaster could only make a maximum of a +3 weapon or piece of armour. A dwarven spellcaster who is enchanting an item they built themselves however is effectively 16th level, giving them a max of +4.

Dwarven clans sometimes have secret methods for making magical weapons and armour, without using arcane magic. These methods are very valuable and are never shared with other clans or outsiders. When a dwarven character reaches 6th level and they visit their family clan, they can expect to learn one of these methods. The dwarf can learn 1 extra secret every 2 levels beyond 6th. Ask the DM for more details.

Derro & Duergar live in the north west of Korovia (north of Roknar), guarding tunnels from Orcish attacks. While they may not care much for their hill and mountain relatives, they care even less for Orcish scum. The Duergar often capture orcs and use them as slaves in their mines. Queen Kasiya has not exiled the Duergar because they are a necessary evil. To go against them would mean a dwarven civil war, and a collapse of the walls of defense that keeps out the orcs.

Gnomes: Forest, Rock, Svirfneblin and Tinker gnomes live in the far north of Korovia, existing peacefully. The Tinker gnomes are the most notorious of these, as their contraptions are both highly complex but also highly likely to either not work or blow up with disastrous effects.

Gully Dwarf: See the Dragonlance Campaign Handbook or ask the DM for more details. Gully dwarves do not benefit from the clan secrets mentioned above. Instead they have an unusual luck for finding very useful things (despite not knowing how to use them).

Half-Dragons in Korovia are almost surely to be Half-Korovian dragon, or Half-Loqland dragon. Other dragons rarely ever travel to Korovia. Any descendants of a Loqland dragon are likely to be one of the main children of Great Scorch. Great Scorch was a Loqland dragon who had decided to make his home in central Korovia, and killed several Korovian dragons during the process to make the point known that he would not be easily forced out. It wasn’t until 12 years ago that Great Scorch was finally defeated by a group of adventurers. Many years before he died however, Scorch was quite active in the wooing of human women. Indeed it is rumoured by sages that that is why he had made his home in Korovia in the first place, to spawn Half-Dragon offspring. Half-Dragon Lizardfolk have also started to arrive from Al-Kazar. With Korovia’s warmer climate now, Lizardfolk from the desert have started to migrate north. Amongst them Half Al-Kazarian Dragons with their cobra-like heads have begun to appear.

Half-Elves are more common in the city of Weyvin, but are otherwise relatively rare in other cities. Weyvin is a haven for half-elves who have left Sylvania seeking more human company. Because there is warm relations between Elves and Humans in Korovia, half-elves are at least twice as common compared to other kingdoms. Half-Elves in Korovia tend to wander quite a bit, and thus gain a +4 bonus to Knowledge (Geography) checks. This wandering has also resulted in them learning 2 bonus languages, which may be chosen at the start of the game, or may be learned later.

Halflings: While relatively common in southern Korovia, halflings typically don’t travel very far north. They prefer the creature comforts of their southern towns.

Half-Orcs are extremely rare for two reasons: There are almost no orcs in Korovia, as most are killed by the dwarves. Half-Orcs rarely reach maturity. Those that do look identical to humans and can pass almost without notice (they have a +10 circumstance bonus to disguise themselves as simple humans). Only extremely alert people would notice that a human with slightly green skin might be a half-orc, and even so they are so rare and most Korovian people have never even seen an orc.

Humans make up the core of Korovia’s population, and while not always benevolent as many warlords have proved not to be, they have become used to the other races they deal with. In addition to normal abilities, humans native to Korovia gain a +2 Diplomacy bonus when dealing with other races that are also native to Korovia (but that bonus does not apply to other humans),

Korovian Minotaurs +8 Str, +4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Chr. +6d8 HD, +6 Base Attack, +2 Fort, +5 Ref, +5 Will, +5 natural armour, +3 Intimidate, +4 Search/Spot/Listen. Large. Korovian Minotaurs are usually Lawful Good and favour the paladin and monk classes. They are not always paladins or monks however, some minotaurs favour a darker path. Blackguard minotaurs are known to exist.

Classes:

All the standard classes and many of the prestige classes are available in Korovia. The following classes are also available: Any class found in The Oriental Adventures (e.g. Samurai) or the Complete Warriors Handbook (e.g. Swashbuckler) published by Wizards of the Coast. Classes from Arabian Adventures are also suitable (sha’ir, etc). Prestige Classes from non-Wizards of the Coast books must be discussed with the DM before used. The DM may however decide that certain classes are too powerful or not suited for this campaign.