James Wyatt hints at 5 new races in PHB2

[Jhaelen]

WotC might think there's was enough "Core appeal" for those races to do that.

True. There's not yet a list of confirmed races for the 4E Eberron campaign setting so it'S possible some of them might be in PHB2.

I'd hope though that the new races for PHB2 will be chosen to be a good fit for the probable power sources in the book, i.e. psionic, primal, and ? (shadow?)

 

[Mottokrosh]

I think that Githzerai and Githyanki are a little too similar to warrant two entries, so we might either see a combined one, or one focussing on Githzerai, who are the lawful ones after all. Githyanki make better opponents.

 

[webrunner]

OK, so it's not much information, but James Wyatt said in GRZ #32 that some of the races in the PHB2 would start with the following letters:
D
G
G
H
S

He also said that Humans could add +2 to any ability score (can't remember if that's been confirmed elsewhere or not).

Obviously it's going to be:
Drow
Grey Elves
Green Elves
High Elves
Sunny side Elves

 

[Aloïsius]

The question is : will there be reprinted races in the PHx ? I'm not sure drow in FR means no drow in PHx...

If there is no reprinted races, then...

D : Duergar
G : Gith
G : Gnome
H : Half-.... Giant ?
S : Shifter

 

[invokethehojo]

For those saying the D wont be for Drow because they are FR and not core...

I have the two preview books right here and drow are mentioned extensivley in both. We used to have 11 different kinds of elves, now we have 3, why wouldn't the third belong in the PHB II?

Maybe in 3.5 Drow were FR, but in 4e they are core.

 

[ZappoHisbane]

I have the two preview books right here and drow are mentioned extensivley in both. We used to have 11 different kinds of elves, now we have 3, why wouldn't the third belong in the PHB II?

Maybe in 3.5 Drow were FR, but in 4e they are core.

They were core in 3.5 too, and they are in 4e right now. In both cases, they're monsters first, player races second.

For those saying the D wont be for Drow because they are FR and not core...

What they're saying is that there is going to be a full player-race write up in the FRCS book, and it's been stated (somewhere) that there are no plans to reprint races (or classes, paragon paths etc) from campaign-specific books in generic books like the PHB2.

 

[Grimstaff]

Shifter would be interesting, but I suspect will be reserved (along with warforged) for the Eberron campaign guide.

Besides, the worlds and monsters book is pretty blatant that Shadar-Kai will be among the next round of player races.

 

[Inyssius]

So, things they could be:

D-
Duergar (would fit the Psionic power source)
Dromite (would fit the Psionic power source)
Drow (unlikely, given that they'll appear in the FRCS)

G-
Gnome (popular race left out of PHB I)
Gith (would fit the Psionic power source)
Goliath
Genasi (possibly reserved for the FRCS)
Goblin (unlikely--has never, to my knowledge, gotten a player/race write-up before)

H-
Half-Orc (popular race left out of PHB I--also would fit Primal power source)
Hobgoblin (unlikely--as goblin)
Half-Giant (might fit Psionic power source)

S-
Shadar-Kai (may be reserved for Shadow power source, but Wizards has focused on them recently)
Shifter (possibly reserved for Eberron)

Any other guesses?

 

[drothgery]

Shifter would be interesting, but I suspect will be reserved (along with warforged) for the Eberron campaign guide.

Well, it depends how much Eberron stuff they want to kick out into general circulation. Kalashtar are certainly Eberron-only (or at least, they are without some work). Warforged arguably are. Changelings/Dopplegangers and Shifters are somewhat less tied to the setting. Gnomes are certainly necessary. So if they don't want to have four or five races in the Eberron campaign guide, then some of them are going to have to show up elsewhere.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I like the idea of basing speculation on what power sources will be introduced in PHB 2. I saw "primal" and "psionic" mentioned above. So how about:

Dryad
Gith
Goliath
Half-something. Not orc; I think they said they're shying away from the whole "implied rape" thing.
Shifter


Shifter used to be Eberron-specific, but the latest Ampersand said it's getting away from that paradigm. And they're a terrific fit for Primal. Same for Dryad--can't get more primal than that. Goliath adds another Str-based race, which is needed. Gith for the psionic side of things.

Maybe the H is for "Half-Astral"? I figure it's got to be another race with affinity for psionic. I'd be tempted to say Half-giant, but the Goliath fills that role well enough.