How do I play monstrous PCs my way?

[Alzrius]

I could be way off here, but I noticed something about playing monsters as PCs:

You don't get to roll your own ability scores, choose your own starting skills, or pick your own starting feats (and, if the DM is strict, roll your hit dice instead of taking the average hp). You just play it straight out of the MM. What if you wanted your ogre PC to have taken ranks in Tumble at first instead of Climb, saying it had a rough childhood (as most ogres do)? What if you wanted it to take Toughness instead of Weapon Focus (greatclub)?

You don't get to roll your own ability scores (and you don't know the racial modifiers for each monstrous race, so you can't just roll them anyway, not without having some type of error-factor in there). What if you wanted your ogre to be not quite so strong but more charismatic than normal ogres so he could be a sorcerer? Without getting to roll your own scores, you can't effectively do that (at least not for quite a while) since ogres have an Charisma of 7.

We can only hope that Savage Species will help list these restrictions, since they are definately not in Third Edition's spirit of "total options".

What do you guys do when you run into these restrictions?

 

[darkbard]

We can only hope that Savage Species will help list these restrictions, since they are definately not in Third Edition's spirit of "total options".

or we could check out p. 23 of the DMG where this is explicitly addressed with rules that should satisfy your needs.

 

[darkbard]

hey, i just noticed this is one japan-based player posting to another! omoshiroi, ne!

 

[hong]

More Slayers lyrics

Give a Reason
Megumi Hayashibara


Me magurushii jikan no mure ga
Hashiri nukeru machi wa sabanna
Kawaru ga waru syuuru na nyuusu
Asu ni nareba, dare mo wasureteru

Ikiteiru ima, ikiteiru
Sonna naka de nani ka motome
Mogaku you ni nukedasu you ni
Kono chikara o tameshite mitakute

Kitto doko ka ni kotae aru umarete kita kotae ga
Hito wa minna, sore o motome
Yarusenai, nogasenai yume ni mukau no

Kizutsuku koto wa kowakunai dakedo keshite tsuyokunai
Tada, nani mo shinai mama de kuyandari wa shitakunai
HERE WE GO! GO! Hashiri tsuzukeru darenimo tomerare wa shinai
Mirai no jibun e to GIVE A REASON FOR LIFE todoketai

Hakari shirenai ookina yamiga
Oto o tatete mukatte kitte mo
Asa ga kireba dareka ga ireba
Kokoro ni aru zetsubou wakeseru

Motto tsuyoku imeeji shite hohoenderu jibun o
Shinjiteru omoi, sore ga
Nani yori mo dare yori mo yumi ni chika zuku

Gooru ni mo tare tarishinai tadoe, tadoritsuitatte
Atarashii yume ga kitto watashi no se naka osu kara
HERE WE GO! GO! Hashiri tsuzukeru dare nimo tomerare wa shinai
Mirai no jibun e to GIVE A REASON FOR LIFE todoketai

 

[Alzrius]

Sugoi! Thanks for the heads-up! Next time I come here to Nihon, I'm bringing my books with me, this is the third or fourth time I've embarrassed myself by asking something easily clarified by the basic books.