Race

Your starting race can be one of: human, dwarf, elf, gnome or orc. All roles can choose to be human, whereas the other races are restricted to only some of the roles. Your race affects your starting and maximum attributes, the belligerency of co-racial monsters, and the safety of sacrificing particular races. Your race will also affect what constitutes cannibalism, as well as what creatures can be safely genocided.

Humans can be any alignment (subject to your chosen role allowing that alignment), but for the others, your race indirectly determines your alignment: dwarves are always lawful, gnomes are always neutral, and elves and orcs are always chaotic.

In general, dwarves are strong, elves and gnomes are smart, orcs are poison resistant, and humans are good all-rounders.

The guidebook offers the following advice about the starting races:

Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
         solid individuals.  Dwarves' most notable trait  is  their  great
         expertise  in mining and metalwork.  Dwarvish armor is said to be
         second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.

Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of  what
         goes  on  will escape an Elf.  The quality of Elven craftsmanship
         often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.

Gnomes are smaller than but generally  similar  to  dwarves.
         Gnomes  are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a se-
         cret underground mine complex built by this  race  exists  within
         the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.

Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
         and are thus the norm by which other races  are  often  compared.
         Although  they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
         role.

Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that  hate  every  living
         thing  (including other orcs).  Above all others, Orcs hate Elves
         with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way  to  kill
         one  at  any opportunity.  The armor and weapons fashioned by the
         Orcs are typically of inferior quality.

SLASH'EM Edit

SLASH'EM has new races, as well as changes to allowed alignments and statistics of original races. New races are:

• Drow - Can put monsters to sleep with bare handed attack
• Doppelganger - Has natural protection, very high stats, and the #youpoly ability
• Hobbit - fast
• Lycanthrope - regeneration and lycanthropy
• Vampire - regeneration, very high stats, level-drain resistance, moves by flying, but can only eat fresh blood

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