Human Subraces
Something I have noticed in fantasy and even some sci-fi is that other races tend to have Subraces/Subspecies Like Elves have High elves, Wood Elves, Moon Elves and Drow. Yet Humans are always basically the same. Kudos to Pathfinder for making regional variants for humans but most that do it feel a little too racist. For my own world I gave every race a specialty/mastery over a skill branch to see how it would integrate. It actually went well. For humans I decided that we are the defacto tool users. While everyone uses tools humans take it to the next level. With that decided I eventually stumbled on to a fun idea. What if Human Subraces are a by product of tools available and the eras of Humanity show our different Subraces.
Here is what I got:
Human Race:
Tool Superiority: Humans may ignore limit caps on tool based skills . Tools are easier to learn. No Tool can be locked from human use.
Mana Resistance: Humans gain minor resistance to all forms of energy, spells, and magic effects. Humans do not take a minimum damage from spells.
Legacy Obsession: Unlike other races, Humans have a deeper connection and drive for legacy, and gain the potential for all legacies each parent has. Humans may pick up legacies through mentors and peers more easily.
Cultural Assimilation: Humans are adept at learning other people's ways and adapting them as their own. Humans can use powers specifically designated for other races at 75% efficiency
Hyperactive: Convert Stamina into Focus and vice-versa
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The Primitive Era
Primal Instincts: Primitive Humans get a minor boost to sensing, tracking, and fighting in untamed wilderness environments.
Enduring Hardiness: Primitive Humans receive a moderate reduction to incoming damage from extreme weather and natural poisons.
Tribal Cohesion: Primitive Humans gain a cumulative bonus to survival tasks like hunting or building shelters for every ally helping you.
Scavenger's Eye: Primitive Humans can identify natural resources and tracks instantly without causing any mental strain.
Adrenaline Reservoir: Primitive humans automatically convert mental focus into physical stamina to stay standing when your health drops dangerously low.
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The Archaic Era
Dawn of Crafting: Archaic Humans receive a major time reduction when refining raw materials, smithing metals, or working with stone.
Phalanx Discipline: Archaic Humans get a cumulative bonus to physical defense and accuracy when standing close to armed allies.
Early Agrarianism: Archaic Humans gain a bonuses when clearing wild landscapes, tilling soil, and harvesting seasonal crops with non-mechanized farm tools.
Animal Domestication: Archaic Humans can consume Focus to highly accelerate the training, subduing, or taming process of wild beasts.
Unyielding Bronze: Archaic Humans spend a small amount of Stamina to temporarily freeze the durability loss on manual weapons or shields.
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The Antiquity Era
Expedition of Roads: Antiquity Humans receive a minor cumulative reduction to travel fatigue when moving along established highways and trade routes.
Planned Infrastructure: Antiquity Humans get a major speed boost when mass-producing identical items or structures using standardized templates.
Mechanical Advantage: Antiquity Humans experience a major reduction to physical strain when utilizing basic machines like levers, pulleys, and cranes.
Irrigation Surveying: Antiquity Humans spend a minor amount of Focus to perfectly level terrain or locate hidden underground water resources.
Civil Meritocracy: Antiquity Humans spend Focus to temporarily boost knowledge checks and trade negotiations while bypassing background penalties.
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The Feudal Era
Fortified Stronghold: Feudal Humans get a major defensive boost to physical stability when holding a stationary position or guarding a wall.
Artisan Workshop: Feudal Humans receive a moderate resource reduction and minor speed boost when hand-crafting specialized items.
Intensive Agriculture: Feudal Humans gain a cumulative efficiency bonus to community food production for every local worker helping you.
Scholastic Preservation: Feudal Humans spend a minor amount of Focus to temporarily boost your ability to decode ancient texts or treat injuries.
Code of Honor: Feudal Humans may spend Stamina or Focus to resist mental manipulation, fear effects, and spiritual corruption.
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The Arcane Era (Dark Ages)
Magecraft: Arcane Humans are able to actively cast, weave, or anchor spells directly through physical matrices like written runes, inscribed circles, or spell-casting implements.
Infusion: Arcane Humans are able apply raw magical energy into mundane objects. During creation they can permanently embed a spell effect or magical abilities into objects.
Magical Overcharge: Using personal focus an Arcane Human can overcharge a magical item to destructive results.
Soul Space: Grants a fixed weight and power-capacity dimensional pocket directly bound to the Arcane Humans soul, allowing them to seamlessly store and retrieve a specific number of magical artifacts or heavy equipment pieces completely outside physical inventory space.
Aura Sight: Automatically grants the sensory ability to read the ambient flow of magic, allowing the user to visually map active spell lines, identify unstable magical items, and immediately translate ancient, inscribed arcane languages if they know the root language.
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The Renaissance Era (Age of Discovery)
Global Navigation: Exploration Humans get a major navigation boost when piloting vehicles across uncharted territories using early maps and compasses.
Mass Communication: Exploration Humans receive a major reduction to the time and resource costs required to duplicate printed information.
Anatomical Analysis: Exploration Humans spend a minor amount of Focus to boost the effectiveness of medical surgeries or precision attacks.
Empirical Overlap: Exploration Humans gain a minor cascading experience bonus in secondary sciences whenever they discover something new or general not known.
Mercantile Trade: Exploration Humans spend a moderate amount of Focus to boost there negotiation skills when dealing with foreign trade bodies.
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The Industrial Era
Assembly Line Manufacturing: Industrial Humans get a massive time reduction when manufacturing mechanical items and a cumulative crafting bonus with large groups.
Internalized Grit: Industrial Humans spend a minor amount of Focus to temporarily ignore incoming damage and delay negative physical status effects.
Analog Mastery: Industrial Humans receive a major efficiency boost when operating, repairing, or reverse-engineering purely mechanical or steam-driven machinery.
Jury Rigged Junk: Industrial Humans get a moderate performance boost when using makeshift tools and can spend Stamina to prevent immediate item breakage
Radio wave Shout: Industrial Humans can spend Focus to send messages via radio wave. This also allows them to use any vocal power through radio waves.
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The Digital Era
Coding Orator: Digital Humans are able to talk directly to machines putting commands into them directly via voice. A machine's ability to understand is circumspect.
Bond Electronic: Digital Humans can bond any one piece of equipment that is significant advanced enough. The device is stored in their soul space and they are able to use any function of the device as if they had it out.
Crowdsource: Digital Humans spend a minor amount of Focus to pull data from a global database, instantly identifying lore or guiding allies.
Graphical Overlay: Digital Humans can plug themselves deeper into the cyber realm viewing multiple complex overlays. They can spend Focus to automate reactions to an instant level.
Cyber Escape: Consumes a major amount of Focus to temporarily project your conscious soul directly into cyberspace or advanced electronic matrices.
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The Stellar Era
Space Walk: Stellar humans are able to activate their own personal gravity field. This field does not affect things beyond the user's skin but allows them to function as if in normal gravity or adjust their relation to the world around them when they are in normal gravity.
Celestial Transmission: Stellar Humans are able to convert their body to energy and send themselves along any grid or transmission antenna at the speed of light.
Environmental Independence: Stella Humans are able to drain their focus to ignore environmental hazards and needs.
Living Battery: For a proportional stamina/focus cost Stellar humans are able to instantly recharge any device.
Warp Sense: Stellar Humans are able to navigate and travel through warp space instinctually.
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Let me know if you like this or if you'd tweak it, or if you think it is a horrible idea.