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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 7043134" data-attributes="member: 1210">A couple of reasons. First, on new races in general- as my setting is long- and well-established, adding new pc races is a tricky proposition under the best of circumstances. I'm a huge fan of setting continuity and consistency, and that means that new races can't just appear out of nowhere with whole civilizations, as is sometimes suggested for new race options. 3e and 4e were especially crazy for new pc race options, and I didn't generally allow them in as regular options.Now, that doesn't apply to aarakocra (aargh, spelling). They exist in my game, and they have since day 1. But their established lore makes them very unsuited to being a pc race. They are racially terrified of being indoors or underground. That's enough right there for me to bring the &quot;pc race&quot; contemplation to a screeching halt. I strongly dislike pc options that basically screw the party by forcing the pc to abandon the party if they take certain very common actions. And &quot;I won't go in that cave/building/ruin!&quot; leaves the aaracokra pc out of about half of all potential adventures. There's another thing, too, though- there just aren't any aaracokra especially near the city that my game is based around. You see, my campaign has a sort of post-fall of civilization setup; only one city remains, and it's an unsustainable situation. But that means that the local inhabitants (or at least the local organized inhabitants) are well-established. And aaracokra aren't them. There's a tribe of them a few rows of mountains to the north, but a big red dragon is in between them and the city, so they don't interact.All that said, that doesn't mean that I'll never allow an aaracokra pc. They pretty much go into my &quot;one-off&quot; policy, alongside so many other options that I don't feel fit as regular options due to campaign reasons but I don't feel a need to ban for any reason. Basically, one time, I'll allow an aaracokra pc. Once, for one player. Maybe. If the circumstances are right. A lot of the 4e races were like that (shardmind, I'm looking at you).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 7043134, member: 1210"] A couple of reasons. First, on new races in general- as my setting is long- and well-established, adding new pc races is a tricky proposition under the best of circumstances. I'm a huge fan of setting continuity and consistency, and that means that new races can't just appear out of nowhere with whole civilizations, as is sometimes suggested for new race options. 3e and 4e were especially crazy for new pc race options, and I didn't generally allow them in as regular options. Now, that doesn't apply to aarakocra (aargh, spelling). They exist in my game, and they have since day 1. But their established lore makes them very unsuited to being a pc race. They are racially terrified of being indoors or underground. That's enough right there for me to bring the "pc race" contemplation to a screeching halt. I strongly dislike pc options that basically screw the party by forcing the pc to abandon the party if they take certain very common actions. And "I won't go in that cave/building/ruin!" leaves the aaracokra pc out of about half of all potential adventures. There's another thing, too, though- there just aren't any aaracokra especially near the city that my game is based around. You see, my campaign has a sort of post-fall of civilization setup; only one city remains, and it's an unsustainable situation. But that means that the local inhabitants (or at least the local organized inhabitants) are well-established. And aaracokra aren't them. There's a tribe of them a few rows of mountains to the north, but a big red dragon is in between them and the city, so they don't interact. All that said, that doesn't mean that I'll never allow an aaracokra pc. They pretty much go into my "one-off" policy, alongside so many other options that I don't feel fit as regular options due to campaign reasons but I don't feel a need to ban for any reason. Basically, one time, I'll allow an aaracokra pc. Once, for one player. Maybe. If the circumstances are right. A lot of the 4e races were like that (shardmind, I'm looking at you). [/QUOTE]

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