Illumians

[Felon]

OTOH, to have that effect, he has to have a glowing circle of runes around his head, which make it just a little bit difficult to hide, or even keep your location secret when invisible...And sure he can stifle them, but then they stop working, and it takes a standard action to reactivate them again...

Well, many folks have found that you can use sneak attack just fine being a clanging, platemail-clad, smash-in-the-door type. All you need is flank.

 

[Testament]

They seem interesting. Can't see them fitting into my campaign, but I like the idea of them. Don't like 'em as much as the Goliaths though.

And yes, this sort of thing is WotC's MO. 3.X seems to be all about options, make it how you want it.

I'll be grabbing this book anyway. I just hope that it isn't filled with stuff as overpowered as Whisper Gnomes (these guys are LA 0!?) or those racial sub levels that were in Races of Stone,

 

[Nightfall]

I still say this is some kind of attempt by WotC to go "Naaayyaa!" at Monte for creating something as cool as Runechildren. But that's just me.