ln the URBAN ARCANA Campaign Setting, you can play characters who are not native to the mundane world. Most of these characters hail from a place beyond Shadow, and they are known to “mundanes” as Shadowkind.
Shadowkind species include elves, dark elves (drow), dwarves, gnomes. goblins, halflings, various halfbreeds (including half-elves, and half-ores), and humans from dimensions other than our own.
You can also play characters native to Earth who are the offspring or descendants of Shadowkind. For instance, you could play a dwarf who was born and raised in Brooklyn; although your character is native to our world, his parents or grandparents may have come to Earth long ago through Shadow. In any event, Shadowkind characters can always trace their origins to someplace other than our world.
Characters who enter our world through Shadow have no way of returning home and are forced to adapt to their new environment. Moreover, they retain only a few hazy memories of the place from whence they came. They might remember a lonely castle on a hilltop. a childhood tale about a black dragon in the swamp, or the wizardly proprietor of a magic potion shop on some half-forgotten street corner, but all other knowledge of their former demesne is stolen from them as they pass through Shadow.
Newly arrived Shadowkind have a variety of responses to the mundane world. Some seek to fit into the larger population of humans without creating too much friction. Others seek to maintain their own half-forgotten heritages in this world. Some see the “new world” as one great adventure. Others liken it to a prison. Still others view their passage through Shadow as an opportunity. Some seek to establish themselves here, while others strive to find a way back home. Some seek riches, others power, and still
others understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following section is designed to help you create a Shadowkind character and expands on the character creation rules presented in the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game<\/em>. Shadowkind characters share several traits, as noted below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creatures brought to our world by Shadow are reclaimed by the tides of Shadow after they die. As a general rule. a creature of Shadow vanishes 1d4 rounds after it dies (drops to -10 hit points), leaving behind no trace of itself other than its clothing and equipment. Shadowkind heroes have stronger ties to our world than other creatures of Shadow; they fade away 1d4 hours after they die. Before they disappear, slain Shadowkind characters can be raised from the dead as easily as mundane characters can (using the raise dead spell). Slain creatures of Shadow that are transformed into undead creatures (using the animate dead spell, for example) remain on our world in their undead state and are not reclaimed by Shadow until they are destroyed.Creature of Shadow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A slain Shadowkind character who is reclaimed by Shadow can’t be raised from the dead or brought back by any means and is considered lost. Rumors persist of a powerful incantation that can return a vanished Shadowkind character to our world, but the veracity of these rumors is
left up to the Gamemaster.
A Shadowkind character is treated as a “creature of Shadow” with regard to special abilities, spells, and psionic powers that affect creatures of Shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n