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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 2063636" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p><em>Races of Destiny</em> is the second in the "Races" series from Wizards of the Coast and, by a trick of the distribution channels, was the third to arrive in Ballarat. I thought both <em>Races of Stone</em> and <em>Races of the Wild</em> were good books that were bordering on greatness. Alas, that is not the case here.</p><p></p><p>This can be partly attributed to the subject matter: a generalised look at humanity really isn't going to tell us much we don't know. The book also deals with half-elves and half-orcs, briefly, and once again, their role in fantasy gaming is stereotyped and rather difficult to expand upon. Once you've covered elves and you know about humans, it's just a matter of describing how the half-elves fit in - they don't have much of a discrete culture, after all.</p><p></p><p>The book is divided into eight chapters, and roughly follows the plan of the other books in the "Races" series.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 1: Humans</strong> (28 pages)</p><p>After noting that humans don't really have a stereotypical culture, the authors (Eric Cagle, David Noonan and Aaron Rosenberg) spend a lot of attention in this chapter trying to help a player distinguish what is special about humans in a fantasy world. Although some of this is fairly obvious, I do think that it is successful in pointing out hooks that human characters can use for improving their role-playing.</p><p></p><p>Much is made of humanity's propensity to gather together in large cities, along with humanity's adaptibility and innovative traits. Two new deities are introduced, <em>Urbanus</em>, god of cities, and <em>Zarus</em>, god of humanity, domination and perfection. Zarus reminds me of various groups in the <em>World of Greyhawk</em> who seek purity and the elevation of humanity above other races; the stronger focus on humans in this book works in his favour. The idea of Urbanus is also something that I find attractive - when the cities of the humans are one of their distinctive traits in fantasy worlds, why not have a deity of such settlements?</p><p></p><p>A sample human city, Three Falls, is also described with a number of personallities who live there. Although I don't find this of great interest, the template it gives for DMs describing their own settlements is likely to be useful.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 2: Half-Elves and Half-Orcs</strong> (18 pages)</p><p>Half-elves try to reconcile their elven and human heritages; half-orcs rebel against them both. Got that? Good. That's the core of these descriptions on the cultures of both races.</p><p></p><p>I'm actually thankful that more space wasn't spent on these races, just because there isn't much more to say. Their attitudes to magic, culture, other races and suchlike are described and it is likely to be useful to newcomers to D&D; however, there isn't much of real note in this chapter.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 3: Illumians</strong> (39 pages)</p><p>Once human, the illumians were changed by an arcane ritual to a race that delights in multiclassing. There's a strange contradiction in their psychology, the typical illumian is "taught from an early age to master every field of study", but mastery requires specialisation - especially in the D&D game.</p><p></p><p>Illumians have particular mastery of language - Speak Language is always a class skill for them - and they possess glowing runes that circle their head, legacies of the magic ritual, that give them an increased ability to multiclass. Their culture is full of cabals, plotting for domination in one area or another. I expect the illumian would work better as a foe used by the DM than a normal PC race.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot of detail here on the illumians, and it makes them very easy to use them in a campaign. My main problem with the chapter is that I don't really like the race: they don't have a role in my games. They are competently presented, but I don't find them compelling.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 4: Other Races of Destiny</strong> (20 pages)</p><p>Nine humanlike races are presented here in form similar to that found in the <em>Player's Handbook</em>; that is, in enough detail to create one and roleplay one, but not in the extended form given in the "Races" series.</p><p></p><p>The races are the Aasimir, Doppelganger, Half-Ogre, Mongrelfolk, Sea Kin, Sharakim, Skulk, Tiefling and Underfolk. For those races that are "monsters", Monster Classes are given so that they can be used in a party of low-level PCs - one of the better innovations first presented in <em>Savage Species</em> and continued through these books.</p><p></p><p>Only the Half-Ogre really jumps out at me, as I once had one in a campaign; most of the races are too much like "outcasts on the edge of society" and thus blend into one another.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 5: Prestige Classes</strong> (37 pages)</p><p></p><p>The expanded format of the Prestige Classes is used in this chapter for the seven prestige classes given. It is perhaps unfortunate, but the most interesting prestige classes seem to be the ones for the illumians, a race I'm not interested in using! Thankfully, the expanded listings also give suggestions for adapting the classes, something I am likely to do.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Chameleon</strong> (10 levels) is the most mechanically innovative of the prestige classes. For humans, doppelgangers and changelings, it allows the character to master the basics of several different classes, and then to switch between skill sets. The switching isn't something that can be done at the drop of a hat, however - it takes an hour, and at the low levels can only be done once per day. By the time you reach the 10th level of the class, this refocusing can be done three times per day and only takes ten minutes.</p><p></p><p>The Chameleon is never as good as a more focused character, but the adaptability does help fill a hole in the description of doppelgangers and other impersonators. The class is innovative enough that judging its balance is very difficult - I'll have to see one in play.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Loredelver</strong> (10 levels) is primarily a wizard/rogue multiclass that uses magic to enhance the dungeon delving aspects of the rogue. The class also has bardic knowledge abilities, and gains various divination and evasion abilities. Nine levels of arcane spellcasting progression and 6 skill points per level make it quite attractive; it is, however, quite differently organised than either the Arcane Trickster or the Daggerspell Mage.</p><p></p><p>As written, the Loredelver is set up for Illumians, but there's really no reason for that restriction to stand. It's probably my favourite prestige class in the book.</p><p></p><p>In contrast, the <strong>Menacing Brute</strong> (5 levels) is designed for the half-orc thug. Improving on the Intimidation skill and with links to the underworld in a city, the Menacing Brute actually does its job quite well. d10 Hit points, 4 skill points/level and a fighter's base attack progression make it quite attractive to fighters and rogues.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Outcast Champion</strong> (5 levels) can be taken by either half-elves, half-orcs or half-ogres. The class represents a leadership role for a group that is not properly integrated into the community, and brings out the desperate teamwork and combat skills that such groups often have.</p><p></p><p>Breaking the half-elven idea of trying to get along is the role of the <strong>Scar Enforcer</strong> (10 levels), a class that combines lesser spell-casting (5 levels of 10), favoured enemy (elves and humans), smite enemy and sneak attack. The authors suggest that Bards, Clerics with the Trickery domain, and Sorcerers would make the most natural progression into this class. It is definitely a grab-bag of abilities. The Scars are written as gangs of embittered half-elves that strike back at the societies that marginalize them. It is my least favourite of the prestige classes: I don't like the abilities, I don't like the role.</p><p></p><p>The other illumian prestige class is the <strong>Shadow Sentinel</strong> (10 levels), a fighter-type that infuses their blade with the stuff of the Plane of Shadow. I've used the Plane of Shadow several times in my campaigns, and, once again, I can't see anything particularly "illumian" about this prestige class. Apart from its general martial tendencies, the Shadow Sentinel is specially potent against evil outsiders and creatures from the Plane of Shadow. It's a nice concept for the class, though not really possessed of earth-shattering abilities.</p><p></p><p>It is quite unusual to find a prestige class that is strictly for humans, but that is the role of the <strong>Urban Soul</strong> (10 levels). Masters of fighting in the cities, the Urban Soul works best for rogues, although bards might also find it of use - though I think the bard would give up too many abilities. The class is evocative, but it seems weak; the abilities don't really aid the rogue or bard much more than their normal progressions. Strangely enough, an Expert might get the best use out of this class.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 6: Character Options</strong> (14 pages)</p><p>I have found the character options pages to be consistently the most interesting in the other books of the "Races" series, this is also the case here. My main objection is that there aren't enough of them; with the focus on cities, surely more could have been done?</p><p></p><p>There are expanded uses for skills, mostly applicable to urban environments. 25 new general feats (that are mostly racial in type) expand on the abilities of the human-like races. The illumians have a set of feats to help their sigils, the half-elf gets a feat to increase their synergy bonus, and another to aid their diplomatic skills, the half-orc get feats that improve intimidate and will saves, and the humans get Able Learner and Heroic Destiny.</p><p></p><p>Able Learner is a stand-out: cross-class skills keep the same cap on maximum rank, but can be bought at the rate of one skill point per rank. Heroic Destiny gives a faux "action point" to the human: once a day, a d6 may be added to the result of a d20 roll. More interesting are the Protected Destiny (reroll a 1 on a save) and Fearless Destiny (avoid death 1/day) feats that are in that tree; it's a bit of a pity to not see more of this type.</p><p></p><p>There are eight Initiate feats, ones that expand upon the abilities of clerics that follow specific deities. These are very nice indeed, although the Radiant Fire feat (for servants of Pelor) is flawed: new spells are meant to be added to their spell list, but they already know most of the spells! I hope we see errata for this soon.</p><p></p><p>There are also two new Tactical feats: Crowd Tactics and Roofwalker, the themes of which should be self-explanatory.</p><p></p><p>The concept of Racial Substitution levels is also expanded upon here: alas, there are none for the standard human. The Half-Elf gets Bard, Fighter and Ranger, the Half-Orc gets Barbarian, Druid and Paladin. These all seem nice to me; there is nothing that worries me about the balance of such (unlike in <em>Races of the Wild</em>).</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 7: Magic</strong> (10 pages)</p><p>Two new domains, City and Destiny, are the centrepoint of this chapter - most of the new spells revolve around those themes. In what is much appreciated, established deities are suggested for granting the new domains in the Greyhawk (Core), Forgotten Realms and Eberron worlds, along with a couple of deities from the "Complete" series of books. </p><p></p><p>One of my favourite spells from the <em>Miniature's Handbook</em> is reprinted here - Delay Death. (For 1 round/level, the recipient will not die as a result of hit point loss, though will still be dying at negative hit points). Alas, no sign of Revivify!</p><p></p><p>A fun spell is Animate City, which causes a city's buildings and streets to attack invaders. In an interesting touch, you need to be in at least a small city for this 9th level City domain spell to work.</p><p></p><p>Adventuring parties, army units, the city watch and other organisations will probably find the Insignia spells very interesting - they grant minor bonuses to all bearing a specific insignia, as well as an alarm that something's up. With a area effect of 400 ft + 40 ft/level spread, one can imagine that they'll see some use - by NPCs or PCs!</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 8: Campaigns of Destiny</strong> (22 pages)</p><p>The final chapter of the book examines the communities humans and other races live in, giving expanded rules for districts, encounters, and role-playing in an urban environment. Quite a number of sample NPCs are given, in a format that I find quite useful.</p><p></p><p>One problem with the district system as presented is that it only lists ten core types of district, then suggests rolling once for every 1,000 inhabitants of the city. While this works well for the smaller cities (5000-10000), problems arise for larger cities.</p><p></p><p>Probably the best touch are the sample "Community Attributes" - things to distinguish individual communities, which include beneficial aspects such as "Artist Haven", "Magically Advanced" and "Tourist Destination", and negative aspects such as "Crime Wave", "Famine" and "Severe Seasons". This idea is great for generating adventures in the urban environment.</p><p></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>It is somewhat sad that the best parts of <em>Races of Destiny</em> really have little to do with the races themselves. The prestige classes I like I'll be stripping of their racial background and the community attributes are certainly not restricted to humans.</p><p></p><p>This book has a problem given the non stereotypical nature of humanity; it does fairly well at covering some aspects of the nature of humanity, but the overall impression of those sections is disappointing. Really, books that delve into particular human cultures are likely to add much more interest to your campaign than the sections on role-playing that this book provides.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the book doesn't quite offer enough to make it even a "good" book. It is like the curate's egg; there are excellent sections, but they aren't enough to redeem it from being one of the weakest Wizards books of recent years.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 2063636, member: 3586"] [i]Races of Destiny[/i] is the second in the "Races" series from Wizards of the Coast and, by a trick of the distribution channels, was the third to arrive in Ballarat. I thought both [i]Races of Stone[/i] and [i]Races of the Wild[/i] were good books that were bordering on greatness. Alas, that is not the case here. This can be partly attributed to the subject matter: a generalised look at humanity really isn't going to tell us much we don't know. The book also deals with half-elves and half-orcs, briefly, and once again, their role in fantasy gaming is stereotyped and rather difficult to expand upon. Once you've covered elves and you know about humans, it's just a matter of describing how the half-elves fit in - they don't have much of a discrete culture, after all. The book is divided into eight chapters, and roughly follows the plan of the other books in the "Races" series. [b]Chapter 1: Humans[/b] (28 pages) After noting that humans don't really have a stereotypical culture, the authors (Eric Cagle, David Noonan and Aaron Rosenberg) spend a lot of attention in this chapter trying to help a player distinguish what is special about humans in a fantasy world. Although some of this is fairly obvious, I do think that it is successful in pointing out hooks that human characters can use for improving their role-playing. Much is made of humanity's propensity to gather together in large cities, along with humanity's adaptibility and innovative traits. Two new deities are introduced, [i]Urbanus[/i], god of cities, and [i]Zarus[/i], god of humanity, domination and perfection. Zarus reminds me of various groups in the [i]World of Greyhawk[/i] who seek purity and the elevation of humanity above other races; the stronger focus on humans in this book works in his favour. The idea of Urbanus is also something that I find attractive - when the cities of the humans are one of their distinctive traits in fantasy worlds, why not have a deity of such settlements? A sample human city, Three Falls, is also described with a number of personallities who live there. Although I don't find this of great interest, the template it gives for DMs describing their own settlements is likely to be useful. [b]Chapter 2: Half-Elves and Half-Orcs[/b] (18 pages) Half-elves try to reconcile their elven and human heritages; half-orcs rebel against them both. Got that? Good. That's the core of these descriptions on the cultures of both races. I'm actually thankful that more space wasn't spent on these races, just because there isn't much more to say. Their attitudes to magic, culture, other races and suchlike are described and it is likely to be useful to newcomers to D&D; however, there isn't much of real note in this chapter. [b]Chapter 3: Illumians[/b] (39 pages) Once human, the illumians were changed by an arcane ritual to a race that delights in multiclassing. There's a strange contradiction in their psychology, the typical illumian is "taught from an early age to master every field of study", but mastery requires specialisation - especially in the D&D game. Illumians have particular mastery of language - Speak Language is always a class skill for them - and they possess glowing runes that circle their head, legacies of the magic ritual, that give them an increased ability to multiclass. Their culture is full of cabals, plotting for domination in one area or another. I expect the illumian would work better as a foe used by the DM than a normal PC race. There's a lot of detail here on the illumians, and it makes them very easy to use them in a campaign. My main problem with the chapter is that I don't really like the race: they don't have a role in my games. They are competently presented, but I don't find them compelling. [b]Chapter 4: Other Races of Destiny[/b] (20 pages) Nine humanlike races are presented here in form similar to that found in the [i]Player's Handbook[/i]; that is, in enough detail to create one and roleplay one, but not in the extended form given in the "Races" series. The races are the Aasimir, Doppelganger, Half-Ogre, Mongrelfolk, Sea Kin, Sharakim, Skulk, Tiefling and Underfolk. For those races that are "monsters", Monster Classes are given so that they can be used in a party of low-level PCs - one of the better innovations first presented in [i]Savage Species[/i] and continued through these books. Only the Half-Ogre really jumps out at me, as I once had one in a campaign; most of the races are too much like "outcasts on the edge of society" and thus blend into one another. [b]Chapter 5: Prestige Classes[/b] (37 pages) The expanded format of the Prestige Classes is used in this chapter for the seven prestige classes given. It is perhaps unfortunate, but the most interesting prestige classes seem to be the ones for the illumians, a race I'm not interested in using! Thankfully, the expanded listings also give suggestions for adapting the classes, something I am likely to do. The [b]Chameleon[/b] (10 levels) is the most mechanically innovative of the prestige classes. For humans, doppelgangers and changelings, it allows the character to master the basics of several different classes, and then to switch between skill sets. The switching isn't something that can be done at the drop of a hat, however - it takes an hour, and at the low levels can only be done once per day. By the time you reach the 10th level of the class, this refocusing can be done three times per day and only takes ten minutes. The Chameleon is never as good as a more focused character, but the adaptability does help fill a hole in the description of doppelgangers and other impersonators. The class is innovative enough that judging its balance is very difficult - I'll have to see one in play. The [b]Loredelver[/b] (10 levels) is primarily a wizard/rogue multiclass that uses magic to enhance the dungeon delving aspects of the rogue. The class also has bardic knowledge abilities, and gains various divination and evasion abilities. Nine levels of arcane spellcasting progression and 6 skill points per level make it quite attractive; it is, however, quite differently organised than either the Arcane Trickster or the Daggerspell Mage. As written, the Loredelver is set up for Illumians, but there's really no reason for that restriction to stand. It's probably my favourite prestige class in the book. In contrast, the [b]Menacing Brute[/b] (5 levels) is designed for the half-orc thug. Improving on the Intimidation skill and with links to the underworld in a city, the Menacing Brute actually does its job quite well. d10 Hit points, 4 skill points/level and a fighter's base attack progression make it quite attractive to fighters and rogues. The [b]Outcast Champion[/b] (5 levels) can be taken by either half-elves, half-orcs or half-ogres. The class represents a leadership role for a group that is not properly integrated into the community, and brings out the desperate teamwork and combat skills that such groups often have. Breaking the half-elven idea of trying to get along is the role of the [b]Scar Enforcer[/b] (10 levels), a class that combines lesser spell-casting (5 levels of 10), favoured enemy (elves and humans), smite enemy and sneak attack. The authors suggest that Bards, Clerics with the Trickery domain, and Sorcerers would make the most natural progression into this class. It is definitely a grab-bag of abilities. The Scars are written as gangs of embittered half-elves that strike back at the societies that marginalize them. It is my least favourite of the prestige classes: I don't like the abilities, I don't like the role. The other illumian prestige class is the [b]Shadow Sentinel[/b] (10 levels), a fighter-type that infuses their blade with the stuff of the Plane of Shadow. I've used the Plane of Shadow several times in my campaigns, and, once again, I can't see anything particularly "illumian" about this prestige class. Apart from its general martial tendencies, the Shadow Sentinel is specially potent against evil outsiders and creatures from the Plane of Shadow. It's a nice concept for the class, though not really possessed of earth-shattering abilities. It is quite unusual to find a prestige class that is strictly for humans, but that is the role of the [b]Urban Soul[/b] (10 levels). Masters of fighting in the cities, the Urban Soul works best for rogues, although bards might also find it of use - though I think the bard would give up too many abilities. The class is evocative, but it seems weak; the abilities don't really aid the rogue or bard much more than their normal progressions. Strangely enough, an Expert might get the best use out of this class. [b]Chapter 6: Character Options[/b] (14 pages) I have found the character options pages to be consistently the most interesting in the other books of the "Races" series, this is also the case here. My main objection is that there aren't enough of them; with the focus on cities, surely more could have been done? There are expanded uses for skills, mostly applicable to urban environments. 25 new general feats (that are mostly racial in type) expand on the abilities of the human-like races. The illumians have a set of feats to help their sigils, the half-elf gets a feat to increase their synergy bonus, and another to aid their diplomatic skills, the half-orc get feats that improve intimidate and will saves, and the humans get Able Learner and Heroic Destiny. Able Learner is a stand-out: cross-class skills keep the same cap on maximum rank, but can be bought at the rate of one skill point per rank. Heroic Destiny gives a faux "action point" to the human: once a day, a d6 may be added to the result of a d20 roll. More interesting are the Protected Destiny (reroll a 1 on a save) and Fearless Destiny (avoid death 1/day) feats that are in that tree; it's a bit of a pity to not see more of this type. There are eight Initiate feats, ones that expand upon the abilities of clerics that follow specific deities. These are very nice indeed, although the Radiant Fire feat (for servants of Pelor) is flawed: new spells are meant to be added to their spell list, but they already know most of the spells! I hope we see errata for this soon. There are also two new Tactical feats: Crowd Tactics and Roofwalker, the themes of which should be self-explanatory. The concept of Racial Substitution levels is also expanded upon here: alas, there are none for the standard human. The Half-Elf gets Bard, Fighter and Ranger, the Half-Orc gets Barbarian, Druid and Paladin. These all seem nice to me; there is nothing that worries me about the balance of such (unlike in [i]Races of the Wild[/i]). [b]Chapter 7: Magic[/b] (10 pages) Two new domains, City and Destiny, are the centrepoint of this chapter - most of the new spells revolve around those themes. In what is much appreciated, established deities are suggested for granting the new domains in the Greyhawk (Core), Forgotten Realms and Eberron worlds, along with a couple of deities from the "Complete" series of books. One of my favourite spells from the [i]Miniature's Handbook[/i] is reprinted here - Delay Death. (For 1 round/level, the recipient will not die as a result of hit point loss, though will still be dying at negative hit points). Alas, no sign of Revivify! A fun spell is Animate City, which causes a city's buildings and streets to attack invaders. In an interesting touch, you need to be in at least a small city for this 9th level City domain spell to work. Adventuring parties, army units, the city watch and other organisations will probably find the Insignia spells very interesting - they grant minor bonuses to all bearing a specific insignia, as well as an alarm that something's up. With a area effect of 400 ft + 40 ft/level spread, one can imagine that they'll see some use - by NPCs or PCs! [b]Chapter 8: Campaigns of Destiny[/b] (22 pages) The final chapter of the book examines the communities humans and other races live in, giving expanded rules for districts, encounters, and role-playing in an urban environment. Quite a number of sample NPCs are given, in a format that I find quite useful. One problem with the district system as presented is that it only lists ten core types of district, then suggests rolling once for every 1,000 inhabitants of the city. While this works well for the smaller cities (5000-10000), problems arise for larger cities. Probably the best touch are the sample "Community Attributes" - things to distinguish individual communities, which include beneficial aspects such as "Artist Haven", "Magically Advanced" and "Tourist Destination", and negative aspects such as "Crime Wave", "Famine" and "Severe Seasons". This idea is great for generating adventures in the urban environment. [b]Conclusion[/b] It is somewhat sad that the best parts of [i]Races of Destiny[/i] really have little to do with the races themselves. The prestige classes I like I'll be stripping of their racial background and the community attributes are certainly not restricted to humans. This book has a problem given the non stereotypical nature of humanity; it does fairly well at covering some aspects of the nature of humanity, but the overall impression of those sections is disappointing. Really, books that delve into particular human cultures are likely to add much more interest to your campaign than the sections on role-playing that this book provides. Eventually, the book doesn't quite offer enough to make it even a "good" book. It is like the curate's egg; there are excellent sections, but they aren't enough to redeem it from being one of the weakest Wizards books of recent years. [/QUOTE]
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