A few months ago I posted an overview of kindreds I was using for my Northmarch setting. I wanted to run a game without all the D&D fantasy cliches so for this setting I whittled the list of playable kindreds down to Humans, the Hidden People, and their Changeling children. Unlike the stock demihumans of recursive fantasy tropes, the Hidden People were meant to be strange, unique creatures.

Since then, my ideas for the setting have evolved quite a bit. Instead of inventing a new kindred whole cloth, I’ve decided to use the stats for standard T&T kindreds as described in section 2.12 of the 5.5 rules, except as follows:

• The non-human kindreds all belong to one people, and the different kinds may represent distinct bloodlines or families. By humans, they are known collectively as the Hidden People or Weird Folk. Storytellers and skalds call them by many names, including mares, moroi, mara-born, trowe, and wights.

• Hidden People are inherently magical. In game terms, this is represented by the optional Power ability, which they may use in addition to Strength for spellcraft or to resist hostile magic. Humans rely on their natural Strength to power spells.

  Players roll ability scores normally, applying a ×1/10 multiplier to Power for human characters, and ×1 for all other Kindreds.

• Hidden People suffer the curse of cold iron, detailed below.
• “Fairies” fly using an innate Fly Me spell (a Level 3 spell from section 2.22.4), which they perform for a third of the listed casting cost (3 POW), like the Leprechaun’s Wink-Wing ability.
• Since there is no “Wizards’ Guild” in the world of Northmarch, “Leprechauns” may begin play with a full complement of Level 1 spells.

The curse of cold iron

Hidden People touched by cold iron are deprived of their natural mana recovery until the iron is removed. Equipping weapons or armor made from iron or steel costs them Power or Strength equal to the item’s required minimum Strength, just as if casting a spell. Other iron items may have the same draining effect at the GM’s discretion.