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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8785747" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 121: July 1996part 3/5Races continues straight on from last page in filling in our new PC options with Monster Manual style entries.Malatran Aarakocra are mechanically pretty much the same as elsewhere, but they make an extra big deal about how large their wingspan is, and how much wide open space they need to get airborne. In the tangles of the jungle they're as stuck on the ground as anyone else, so the tournaments can continue to railroad them. Butu are kobolds who resemble goats more than dogs or dragons. They have the goatish ability to handle improbably steep slopes with ease, which explains why they live in places humans can't. Fighting them on cliffs is a good way to get headbutted and fall to your doom. They retain the typical kobold cowardliness though, which is now mechanically backed up with a pathetic cowering power that they can use to deflect attention in combat. They're pretty neatly designed, although still pretty prone to being used in a comic relief way. Ostrich Katanga are pretty self-explanatory, but also absolutely terrifying if you have any experience with real ostriches. All that running speed and ability to disembowel you with a kick, paired with actual intelligence. A regular human would need a fair bit of equipment to handle a fight these guys could do naked. Malatran Lizardmen are also pretty much identical to normal ones, just including the details in the complete book of humanoids about needing to pay extra attention to proper hydration when out of the swamp. An increasing number of them are growing bored with the traditional lifestyle of basking and raiding, looking to learn more about the world. Will you be one of them? Malatran Mold Men are probably the hardest to integrate into a group, as they can only communicate by sign language, and share the lizardmen's need for high amounts of hydration. They're good at stealth and immune to electricity & things that specifically affect humanoids, but vulnerable to fire and plant affecting magic. It remains to be seen how much the adventures will make these benefits & drawbacks significant in actual play.The centrefold is once again the map of the Malatran plateau, only with a bunch of new details added onto it showing where the newly discovered tribes live. There's still plenty of blank space around the edges, so you still have room to add more, but the sum total of knowledge is definitely expanding there. Let's hope all these various races can figure out how to co-exist peacefully.Heroes of Malatra: This is also pretty much identical to issue 102, only with the new races added on. They're designed in much the same way, with quite conservative level limits of 10 as fighters and 5-9 in whatever else is permitted. The ability score allocations, allowed equipment, rules on hero points, roleplaying advice, etc is mostly identical, to the point of being a direct copy and paste. That's how you know they're doing this on computer now and can just pull up the old files and make minor edits instead of retyping the whole thing. Now hopefully they'll get a new wave of people who want to join up and keep the setting growing further.</blockquote>

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