Ancestries represent the broad biological or cultural heritage of a character and provide baseline bonuses and traits that distinguish one lineage from another. This system is intentionally setting-agnostic, allowing for a wide variety of ancestries—from traditional fantasy races to entirely original creations.
Because The Nexus Framework is setting-agnostic, only two ancestries are presented herein: Humans and Orcs. If you want more ancestries, you will need to custom create them for your game. Creating ancestries is largely a subject of judgement calls; as it is extraordinarily unlikely that players of your game will be able to justify creating new ancestries, it's easier for the game designer to balance them at design time.
Each ancestry distributes 12 points across the six attributes. When assigning points:
For most human-sized ancestries, a typical maximum health is 12 + Body, and a typical speed is 5. Humans are an exception, with a maximum health of 10 + Body, reflecting their greater flexibility in skill and trait selection rather than raw resilience.
Every ancestry should offer two skills, and the player who selects an ancestry chooses one of those skills and gains a +2 training value in that skill.
Ancestries include a pool of traits that reflect cultural, biological, or environmental quirks. Each ancestry should provide at least three traits per tier, giving players choices that shape their character’s abilities and personality. Traits can represent anything from natural talents to learned behaviours or inherent resistances.
If an ancestry grants additional special abilities or imposes weaknesses, these should be roughly balanced against each other. While exact balance can be difficult to achieve, the goal is to avoid creating lineages that are inherently stronger or weaker than others. Designers are encouraged to consider trade-offs carefully, ensuring that every ancestry offers interesting options without overshadowing the choices of other lineages.
This approach encourages creativity while maintaining mechanical fairness, allowing players and GMs to craft diverse and meaningful ancestries suitable for any setting.
Humans are the default, balanced option in most games. Within this framework, they receive moderate bonuses and flexible trait options that make them versatile and adaptable.
When you select Human as your ancestry, increase each of your attributes by +2, providing a balanced starting point without favouring any particular specialty.
When you select Human as your ancestry, your maximum health is 10 + your Body modifier, and your speed is 5.
Humans are varied and adaptable, and this is reflected in their ability to learn anything. Choose any skill, and gain a +2 training value in that skill.
Whenever a Human would gain an ancestry trait—whether at character creation or later—they instead choose either a General trait or a Skill trait. This flexibility reflects humanity’s adaptability and wide range of potential talents.
Orcs are a proud and resilient people, known for their physical prowess and strong sense of honour. They can be presented as the traditional fantasy warriors or as a sci-fi “Proud Warrior Race,” but in either case, they excel in physical tasks and endurance while often trading off subtlety or finesse.
When you select Orc as your ancestry, distribute 12 points across the six attributes as follows:
| Agility | +3 |
| Body | +3 |
| Charisma | +1 |
| Dexterity | +2 |
| Education | +1 |
| Foresight | +2 |
This distribution emphasizes raw strength and durability, while still allowing Orcs to function competently in other areas.
Orcs are a bit more physically robust than humans, with a maximum health of 12 + Body modifier. They have a Speed of 5.
Orcs are expected to be able to fight, preferably up close and personal. Choose either Brawling or Melee, and place a +2 training value in the selected skill.
Orcs have a pool of traits reflecting their culture and biology. Traits are organized into four tiers:
Initiate (available at character creation)
Adept (requires Level 2)
Master (requires Level 8)
Paragon (requires Level 14)
Suggested Orc traits for each tier:
Initiate:
Resilient: +1 bonus to Stamina rolls.
Intimidating Presence: Advantage on social rolls intended to frighten or dominate.
Savage Strike: +1 bonus on first attack in combat.
Adept:
Battle-Hardened: Advantage when resisting fear effects.
Enduring: Recover Stamina slightly faster than normal.
Tactical Instinct: Minor bonus to Planning skill checks.
Master:
Warrior’s Fury: Once per encounter, gain temporary bonus to Melee skill.
Cultural Pride: Bonus to Leadership rolls when rallying allies.
Unyielding: Resistance to physical penalties from exhaustion or environmental hazards.
Paragon:
Legendary Strength: Significant bonus to Body-based rolls or Melee skill.
Inspiring Presence: Allies gain minor bonuses when nearby.
Relentless: Once per day, automatically resist a debilitating effect.