Fantasy Races: Hungry for Creative Races and Racial Traits

[celt]

I have a race of bird men, called Aechan, that have a limited verbal language, but who have a very detailed written language, since it captures the intricate body language of wing movements and such. Their primary magic system involves writing events that then happen. It is said the language is so intricate that an Aechan can describe an image in textual form in less space than it would take to have an actual picture.

Holy cow. You have the writing virus. I can tell that you have a love of words. Great sentences! I would be curious to hear more about your bird people. You mostly mentioned their language capabilities and (since you've devolped that aspect so well) I'm sure you must have more. Tell me more about the Aechan! Please!

The Trillith are creations of dreamstuff, born from the dreams of an ancient psionic dragon held in eternal slumber. Thousands of years ago, her dreams, made manifest with psionic energy, placed her into an eternal sleep, then crept into her mind and conjured up the most frightening nightmares imaginable. Among the Trillith, the strongest are those who can master the terror of their mother, creating the most powerful minions and warriors possible. A race of nightmares, they could destroy the world, but they are trapped. Fearing her own power, the Mother of Dreams exiled herself deep beneath the surface of the world.

Yoi. This is nearly pretty. Ok, it IS pretty. It's so developed that I can't imagine roleplaying it. It's so ethereal and powerful that it's like something from the Outer Planes Epic Handbook (I made that up, this product does not exist). I almost can't relate to the idea but I'm impressed with the depth.

Really nice writing. I salute you.

 

[NeuroZombie]

If you are interested in very unique half-breeds, check out Bastards and Bloodlines from Green Ronin, part of the Races of Reknown series. This book is great for some really odd, yet compeling half-breeds, such as halfling/harpies and dwarf/kuo-toa, and they can pretty much all be used as regular races as opposed to halfbreeds.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Telepathic Pedagogically Oriented Jellyfish is a helluva mouthful! I'm leaning towards humanoidish stuff (pushing the flexability of language there) so that the players relate better initially to the core ideas. I want weirdness but I'm hoping the weirdness is more in the application and less up front. Maybe I'm not giving these jellyfish folks a fair shake?

Oathbound has a lot more than these guys in it to mine, my copy's not present or I'd list off some.

Well, heck I'll do it anyways:

Fray, Haze, Asherake - sort of furry skeletal flying monks, Faust - not really into selling souls sort of more linguistic versions of the alien, Pickers, Ceptu - that's the awesome jellyfish and I wouldn't sell them short if you really want to get into the flexibility of language you gotta deal with something that has radial symmetry, and, in one of the supplements but a favorite, Thorns!

Thorns are plants that prune themselves into a rough approximation of the dominant lifeform, in your case and in Oathbound's case humanoids, with whatever cosmetic modifications they think they might enjoy. They then figure out the local species, adopt a few of the more advanced but non-dominant, and train them up to be there protectors.

Picture elves, if elves went out and really early in the evolution of Orcs convinced them to be their warrior and soldier caste in return for greater sentience. That and if the elves carved themselves into their adult forms and could photosynthesize.

There are many others and I really can't recommend the setting enough for inspiration.

Oathbound may be out of print, but that just means there is a .pdf either here or on the way.

 

[celt]

Oathbound has a lot more than these guys in it to mine, my copy's not present or I'd list off some.

Due to your description of the Thorns (and the others to a lesser degree) I put in an order for Oathbound and should have it by tomorrow. That seems like a real good tip and I thank you for it!

 

[Morgenstern]

I just thought I'd point out Galactic Races (published by Fantasy Flight) is entirely compatible with D&D. I did a couple of the races in there and there are some really fun ones. The Quasta are (physically) sort of like a cross between a large parrot and a beholder. They are friendly, inquisitive, and very sensitive to comments about their size. Some good discussion of culture and how the races fit in with other, more 'standard' folks.

Worth flipping through at the very least.

 

[Ferret]

I've been toying with some idea in my had for some time and I've developed (if thats the right word) a race. Now please don't just take the race, but be inspired by it.

A tree climbing race whose arms split into two forearms one that helps them climb, and the other that is more dextrous. There are more details like evolution and apparence, but they aren't important.

What about a race of people who are like "humanoid rats" not in appearence but they live on the roofs of cities like urban scavengers?