A human character’s place of birth
The chart which follows, used to determine the birthplace of human characters, favors those locations (provinces/countries) where the “most common alignment(s)” is non-evil. Bands of adventurers who are evil can be put together, of course, but since most modules and campaigns are designed for non-evils,
only those locations will be given here. Thus, places like the lands of Iuz, the Horned Society, and the Bandit Kingdoms are generally excluded from the list, but it is still possible a character could hail from one of these lands.
A birthplace chart will give the name of a general location. The player can then select an exact site from the province/country or from the bordering forests or hills.
Place of birth may be important in determining the alignment of a character, but it will not always absolutely define that alignment. In cases of apparent conflict, the DM can simply rule that the family of the character did not practice the predominant alignment of the area, or perhaps that the family moved to a locale of suitable alignment soon after the birth of the character.
Characters who are of a class or a race which makes a particular alignment mandatory should not be inhibited by the results of the chart. It is entirely possible for a character born in Ull, for instance, to grow up to become a paladin. All that is necessary is for the player to create a reason why the character is lawful good in a land of chaotics and neutrals.
On the other hand, if the alignments listed for an area are just as “good” for the character as any others, one of the given alignments can be considered a good “random” choice.
Naturally, neither the DM nor players should feel bound by every birthplace or alignment tendency indicated by the chart. Some places of birth might not seem logical for a certain class of character; for instance, if a character rolls the land of the Frost Barbarians as his place of birth, it is somewhat of a conflict if the character happens to be a magic-user. (The barbarian races would produce fighters, if not berserkers, as their major class.) If a birthplace seems incongruous with the class or other characteristics
of a figure, simply re-roll or make a logical selection from the available choices.
A demi-human character’s place of birth
If a character is of one of the demi-human races, use the table below to determine birthplace. Half-elves are treated as elves; half-orcs appear where humans and humanoids (specifically orcs) reside.
Given below are places where “few” or “some” demihumans live, according to the WORLD OF GREYHAWK folio (1980).
Breaking language barriers
Once a character’s place of birth and alignment are fixed, it is time to determine the language(s) the character speaks. All modern languages are listed in the
Languages, Modern non-weapon proficiency description. It costs 1 non-weapon proficiency to speak or reaad/write a language, and a second slot to do both. It is assumed that everyone can speak their native language, so this language can be picked up at the cost of 0 nwp slots. Anyone who is middle middle class or higher can also read and write that language for free (0 nwp slots). Anyone born lower middle class or lower can speak the language only if nwp slots are spent for reading and writing.
Common sense and logic must be used when the lists are employed. Suloise, for example, is a language of learned men that is all but extinct as a primary tongue. It would be silly to have a fighter of low intelligence speak it as a primary language just because that was the result the dice produced.
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