Goblins, the final PHB3 race?

[DEFCON 1]

I'm with you here. I still can't believe they gave us Castor without Pollox.

Heh... they're probably waiting until PH4 for the Githyanki. What better way to make sure they get a section of the players to buy the book who might not otherwise, by holding back an important and popular piece? Drop the githzerai into PH3... listen to the feedback of the number of people pissed that the 'yanki were not included... then add them to PH4 so that they can get those folks to buy another book (or keep up with their DDI subscription until it arrives).

It was probably that same philosophy that made them hold back the gnomes, halforks, bards, druids, barbarians, and sorcerers for PH2, and the monks for PH3. Never give the players everything they want when they want it... because they won't buy the next thing otherwise.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Oooh return of the blues!
my players will hate that. They ran into a whole tribe of blue-led gobos and got smacked around. I even pained a goblin-mini blue, and the blues have inspired hatred for 2-3 years now.

I'm not sure any of them will play psionic goblins, but they will surely enjoy fighting them.

Ooo yes. I love blues. I hope that there's an option in PH3 (or the inevitable Psionic Power) that will let a character play a blue. I also hope that blue goblins will be in the MM3.

 

[Lady Dragon]

Goblins could be cool, I'm sure it is alreay set in stone one way or another by now since the book is coming out less than 3 months from now and it will have to be sent to the printer in early Jan and I believe wizards is off for christmas for a week.

I haven't been following things very closely what classes and races are officially confirmed, I seen the cover so obviously minotaurs and githzarai are included and I heard the new power source is Psionics.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I like goblins, and I'd be okay with them if they were in PH3. But I'm really hoping for a race with the aberrant creature type.

 

[Barastrondo]

The thing is, if they're going to bring in Goblins or Gnolls, why the rant about no Githyanki as a playable race? That just irks me, since Githyanki seem to fit a good niche (mechanically and flavor-wise), and seem to be rather popular.

So: if they won't give me Githyanki, then I'm against all the other monster races. Purely for reasons of spite.

I tried to get an answer on the other thread concerning githyanki, and I'm still left twisting... why githyanki? What makes them particularly tasty as a PC option?

Admittedly, I have sort of the same questions about the githzerai, but what would the heroic tier game be like? How do you run from levels 1-10 with no silver sword, red dragon pact or Astral travel and capture the core essence of what it is to be githyanki? This isn't a challenge or anything: I'm honestly curious what the draw is for those guys to be a full-bore PC race, and what neat things you could do with them at low levels as well as high.

 

[Dausuul]

I tried to get an answer on the other thread concerning githyanki, and I'm still left twisting... why githyanki? What makes them particularly tasty as a PC option?

Admittedly, I have sort of the same questions about the githzerai, but what would the heroic tier game be like? How do you run from levels 1-10 with no silver sword, red dragon pact or Astral travel and capture the core essence of what it is to be githyanki? This isn't a challenge or anything: I'm honestly curious what the draw is for those guys to be a full-bore PC race, and what neat things you could do with them at low levels as well as high.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me the githyanki just have a serious cool factor that's heightened by 4E's take on them as astral pirates.

As for what they'd do at the heroic tier... good question. I sometimes think D&D would be well served by creating some Paragon and Epic races, playable only at those tiers. It would make it possible to play some of the more powerful and exotic creatures in the game, without compromising on concept.

 

[Nifft]

I tried to get an answer on the other thread concerning githyanki, and I'm still left twisting... why githyanki? What makes them particularly tasty as a PC option?

For me, it's about:

1/ The super-cool picture in the 1e Fiend Folio. They've had a sexy mystique since their inception.
2/ A certain Fighter/Magic-User from Planescape:Torment.
3/ Their mechanics are interesting for some classes.
4/ Their built-in antagonism towards their society (i.e.: if you go too deep into Paragon or Epic tier, you WILL be hunted down by the Lich-Queen so she can feast on your soul). So you've got a solid camp of villains -- from whom you can "liberate" your Silver Sword if you want one -- and possibly a whole Epic campaign arc.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Barastrondo]

For me, it's about:

1/ The super-cool picture in the 1e Fiend Folio. They've had a sexy mystique since their inception.
2/ A certain Fighter/Magic-User from Planescape:Torment.
3/ Their mechanics are interesting for some classes.
4/ Their built-in antagonism towards their society (i.e.: if you go too deep into Paragon or Epic tier, you WILL be hunted down by the Lich-Queen so she can feast on your soul). So you've got a solid camp of villains -- from whom you can "liberate" your Silver Sword if you want one -- and possibly a whole Epic campaign arc.

Thanks, that helps.

I guess why I have mental blocks concerning them is that I tend to run thematically tuned games a lot, in which classic races get a thematic twist; you know, sort of like Al-Qadim or Hamunaptra or Ravenloft. Elves and dwarves and halfling I can usually fit into just about whatever. Gnolls and goblins, likewise. So I tend to get the most use out of races that have strong cultural trends rather than cultural specifics; there are a lot of things you can do with "dwarves are stoic and build stuff", but I find "githyanki live in dread of their Lich Queen" to not be as versatile.

 

[Wik]

Thanks, that helps.

I guess why I have mental blocks concerning them is that I tend to run thematically tuned games a lot, in which classic races get a thematic twist; you know, sort of like Al-Qadim or Hamunaptra or Ravenloft. Elves and dwarves and halfling I can usually fit into just about whatever. Gnolls and goblins, likewise. So I tend to get the most use out of races that have strong cultural trends rather than cultural specifics; there are a lot of things you can do with "dwarves are stoic and build stuff", but I find "githyanki live in dread of their Lich Queen" to not be as versatile.

Actually, reading that, I realize I'm the exact same way. Which is probably why I don't react well to the various Gith classes, either. Hunh.

 

[yesnomu]

For me, it's about:
2/ A certain Fighter/Magic-User from Planescape:Torment.

Dak'kon was Githzerai, though. IIRC the only Githyanki were antagonistic.

I think a Githzerai Swordmage (definitely Con-based) would represent Dak'kon very well, come to think of it.

EDIT: Do we actually know there're four races in PHB3? It'd be hilarious if there ended up being only three.