James Wyatt hints at 5 new races in PHB2

[MindWanderer]

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.

Drow will be playable with or without FRCS; the difference is that without it, they're playable only out of the MM with a small number of options (probably class features but no feats). I can't imagine that they'll give a partial write-up for drow in the MM, a full write-up in FRCS, and then a second full write-up in PHB2. That's overkill.

Besides, there are still so many drow fanboys out there that the mere presence of drow in the FRCS will get people to buy it who normally never plan in FR.

 

[Doug McCrae]

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

Good one.

Seeing as drow will be in FRCS, but otoh people love elves, I will predict shadow elves, from Mystara as the S.

 

[Tao]

Considering the speculated Psionic/Shadow/Primal nature of the PHB2, I would go with the following:

Duergar (possibly re-flavored with ties to both shadow and psionics)
Gith (quintessential Psionic)
Gnome (primal [sorceror] and sorely missed)
Half-Orc (also primal [barbarian] and sorely missed)
Shadar-kai (the new bad boys of shadow)

 

[Andor]

Direflumph

Giff

Gnomish Warforged

Halfhumans

Snivblifin

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

In an effort to make-up for the crappy race selection in PHBI, the races of PHBII will be...


Gnome

Gnomeling (tiny sized gnome-kin)

Derro (Far Realms tainted gnomes)

Half-gnome

Svirfneblin

 

[doctorhook]

D oppelganger(/Changeling): Lots of core applicability here.
G nome: I think this one's a given.
G ith(-yanki? -zerai? -yankzeriai? ): Interesting and Psionic-relevant.
H obgoblin: Why not? Goblinoids are popular, so it's only a matter of time
S hifter: Good match for Primal power source, and totally not Eberron specific, IMO.

We're not at a loss for good choices for guesses here. Shadar-Kai would be an excellent match for the Shadow power source, so it's a good guess. I think Goblin would be a fine choice as well, but I don't see Goblins and Hobgoblins in the same book, for the same reason I don't see Githyanki and Githzerai in the same book: too much thematic redundancy. (However, I do believe we'll see them all eventually.)

[Side Note: Should Githzerai and Githyanki be separate races, or should we just have Gith-people? I'm inclined to say they ought to be separate, as that's always been the assumption, AFAIK, and because the Daily Art Preview has already preview Githyanki and Githzerai separately. On the other hand, I'm no Planescape expert either; maybe we ought to wait for the Planescape Player's Guide?]

I totally agree with everyone who says, "Warforged and Kalashtar will be in the Eberron Player's Guide!" Both are much more iconic to Eberron than Shifters and Changelings, who have potentially much broader appeal.