Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Races
The races commonly found in other parts of
Faerûn—humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings,
and half-orcs—are prevalent throughout
the Unapproachable East as well. However, the East is also
home to several peoples who are either isolated in the
remoter portions of the region or found only here. These
are the star elves, gnolls, hagspawn, spirit folk, taers, and
volodnis.
Of the common races, humans are by far the most numerous.
They include several distinct ethnicities. The folk of
Rashemen and the downtrodden commoners of Thay are
Rashemi, a dark-haired people with deep, swarthy complexions,
while the Mulan, a people originating from Mulhorand,
rule Thay. Damarans, a widespread group that colonized
many lands east of the Inner Sea in the last six or seven centuries,
call Aglarond, the Great Dale, and Thesk home.
Smaller numbers of Chondathans dwell in Aglarond and
Some of the races listed in this chapter have a level adjustment
listed in their racial traits. When a member of these
races gains class levels, this level adjustment is added to the
creature’s Hit Dice to determine the effective character
level, or ECL, of the character. The ECL measures the relative
strength of the character for the purpose of experience
Powerful Races
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Thesk, and some Nars live in the Great Dale. Finally, more
exotic nationalities such as Shou and Tuigan are sprinkled
throughout the region.
Dwarves are not common in the Unapproachable East, although
arctic dwarves make their homes on the Great Glacier
north of Narfell, and duergar cities lie buried under the
Sunrise Mountains. A small number of shield dwarves live in
isolated holds in the Giantspire and Icerim Mountains.
Wood elves and wild elves inhabit the realm of Aglarond,
and a small number of wood elves prowl the Forest of Lethyr,
but the East never was blessed with the great elven realms
that arose in lands farther west. Drow are rumored to lurk beneath
the open lands of Thesk and the frozen reaches of the
Icerim Mountains, but if so, they have few dealings with the
surface folk of the East.
Gnomes are somewhat common in the Unapproachable
East, which is noteworthy, as the Forgotten Folk aren’t found
in numbers anywhere else except the isle of Lantan. Rock
gnome settlements dot the Dragonjaw Mountains, and an isolated
valley in the eastern slopes of the Sunrise Mountains is
home to a secret, well-defended gnome realm known as the
Hidden Kingdom.
Half-elves are also common in the East, particularly in
Aglarond. Born of human settlers and the ancient Yuir elves,
these handsome folk have made the Simbul’s domain a haven
for their kind. Half-orcs are numerous too, although they do
not call a particular land home. Descended in large part from
point requirements to advance in levels. For example, the
taer has a level adjustment of +1. Adding this to the taer’s
starting 2 Hit Dice brings the taer’s ECL to 3. Thus, a 1stlevel
taer character is the equivalent of a 4th-level standard
character. For more information, see Chapter 1: Characters
in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting.